


We Survive Together

by Emmie109



Category: Black Veil Brides, The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner, Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones - Black Veil Brides (Album)
Genre: F.E.A.R, Friendship/Love, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Male-Female Friendship, Maze Runner AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Wild Ones, WICKED | WCKD (World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-03-26 20:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 43
Words: 85,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13865859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmie109/pseuds/Emmie109
Summary: Evelyn and her two friends have just escaped from WICKED and ran head first into the unknown. During a chance encounter they meet someone who will save their lives and take them back to The Gladers, a group that looks out for each other.But in this harsh sun scorched world they must try to protect themselves against WICKED, Cranks and other groups trying to steal their supplies. What will happen to the group as they simply try to survive.(May see this on Wattpad, I posted it there too,)





	1. ONE - LYN

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea running through my head for a while and now I'm finally getting it out. 
> 
> This is my first work on AO3, feel free to leave comments letting me know what you think. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy :D

The sun was slowly sinking in the sky but I could still feel every ray blister my skin. The sun flares were still burning the world and turning it into a barren wasteland. We kept moving though, we needed to find some where safe to spend the night. The three of us moved stealthily down the long-abandoned street, ducking behind the broken cars to hide ourselves from unwanted eyes. 

After two weeks of planning we had finally done it, the three of us were free. It had been three days since we had escaped. We didn’t know what to expect outside of the WICKED Compound and the gruelling heat was something we had not factored in but I would not go back. Even the victims of the flare virus that WICKED called Cranks would not scare me enough to go back to that place.

The past three days had not been easy. When leaving WICKED we hadn’t been able to take anything with us just the clothes on our backs, which weren’t very sun smart. Only a few hours after we escaped we had needed to break into an old, abandoned shop to steal the supplies we would need. There hadn’t been much left but luckily, we managed to find some more suitable clothes, a back pack which we had thrown some water bottles in and a small supply of food. 

Thomas had also looked for a weapon to use against WICKED if they came after us or the Cranks or any other of the unknown things that could attack us. WICKED had stolen our memories, before we had broken out we didn’t even know what the outside world was like. We didn’t know who we were besides our names, we didn’t know if there were a family or people looking for us, we didn’t know anything. Teresa had argued that’s why we should stay in WICKED it was familiar and all we knew but that wasn’t a good enough reason for Thomas and I, so Teresa decided to come too.

Unfortunately, Thomas had been unable to find any sort of weapon so our main goal at the moment was to simply avoid anything that could attack us. 

Suddenly I sensed something in the corner of my mind and turned around to look. I couldn’t see anything but I recognised this feeling in my head. It had been there since I woke up at WICKED, I could sense when things were getting close, I didn’t even have to see them as soon as they got within a certain distance I knew. It seemed to be some sort of ability I possessed, one I don’t think was normal and one that quite frankly creeped me out. But at times like this is was useful. With that feeling still in my head I knew that two people were driving towards us, I kept looking until finally I could just make out a vehicle driving towards us. 

“Hide,” I called out to my other two companions. Without questioning me they both moved to hide behind a deserted, four-wheel drive. I ran and dived behind the car next to them. My back slammed against the side of an abandoned car as I threw myself behind it for cover. The three of us were holding our breath as we heard the vehicle getting closer and closer. Slowly I turned my head to look around the bumper. I saw it, on the side of the car in big writing was WICKED. The vehicle slowly drove past us, the moment it was out of sight I let out the breath I had been holding. 

It had been three days since we escaped but it didn’t seem like WICKED were slowing down their search. The three of us had been vital instruments in WICKED’s experiment’s, they were forever researching us and operating and drawing blood. It had been too much. I couldn’t handle it anymore. That’s when Thomas had proposed his idea. His escape plan was elaborate and it took us two weeks to get everything ready but finally it was time and we were successful. Now we just had to make sure we weren’t caught. 

Beside me, Thomas motioned for us to keep moving, the three of us crawling around the side of the cars. Just as we were approaching the end of the cars, Thomas leapt up and darted to the side of a worn-down building. Teresa and I were quick to follow. Thomas looked around the corner before jumping back. 

“Damn it,” he said under his breath. 

“What? what is it?” Teresa whispered trying to look around the wall. Thomas just grabbed her and pulled her back. It was then I sensed them, felt them in my head, if I concentrated and closed my eyes I could even see them, a huge group just around the corner. 

“Cranks,” I whispered. Thomas nodded his head and moved to have another look around the corner. Cranks had a different feel to the other people I had been in contact with, they felt so aggressive and violent when I saw them in my head, without closing my eyes it was like a red warning started flashing. With my eyes closed I managed to see them, standing behind the corner. They were a few metres back and there was about 15 of them, moving around in a disorderly fashion. 

I didn’t know how I was able to do this, see them perfectly clearly, without actually seeing them. When I had told Thomas what I could do, he thought that maybe WICKED had done something to my brain that allowed me to sense people. Through spending time with him and Teresa at WICKED we also learnt that if I thought hard enough, I was also able to find people. Thomas’s idea of WICKED messing with my brain made sense to me, after all they had stolen my memories but I often wondered why WICKED had not done anything to Thomas and Teresa. 

Suddenly in the corner of my mind I could sense other life forms. I turned and looked up the street. I couldn’t see or hear anything but I knew, the WICKED patrol was coming back. 

“We’ve got move!” I whisper yelled, “they’re coming back!” 

Thomas looked around trying to find a place to go since two of our escape options were cut off and the way we came was an empty street. Suddenly he was moving and gesturing for us to follow. He ran to the other side of the street and began pushing on the abandoned shop doors until one opened. We all rushed inside and backed away from the door and windows. 

The shop was small and looked like it might have once been a deli. As far as I could remember I had never been in one before but my memory supplied the word to me all the same. The place looked ransacked, with empty shelves and rubbish all over the floor. Teresa and I both moved to hide behind one of the stores walls, while Thomas hid down one of the aisles. 

Something felt wrong. The shop looked deserted, I looked around, we were the only three people in here and yet I sensed something. Something else, something going towards Thomas. Crank! 

Without thinking I ran towards Thomas. All I saw was his startled expression as I threw him out of the way just before the Crank was on him. However, I hadn’t been quick enough to get out of the way. The Crank had been reaching for a taller person so it’s out stretched arms missed me but the momentum of its leap pushed it off balance. Next thing I knew I was on the floor with a Crank on top of me trying to rip me to pieces. 

Thomas recovered quickly and began trying to pull it off of me. I was kicking and pushing trying to get it off me. Suddenly I could feel sharp nails pierce my skin and pull at me, raking their way down my stomach. I screamed and tried to fight harder to crawl out from under it. 

“Teresa!” Thomas yelled, “help!” 

I had no idea were Teresa was. I was too busy trying to keep the Crank’s sharp teeth from biting me. I could feel it’s spit landing on me as it struggled with both Thomas and me. It felt like nothing could deter it from it’s mission of eating me. 

“Teresa!” I heard Thomas call again maybe a hint of panic in his voice. 

I was still pushing and kicking and trying to crawl my way free. Suddenly there was another set of hands in the kerfuffle. I saw the flash of silver before something was shoved into the Cranks head and it went still. I waisted no time crawling free and Thomas was there helping me, pulling me out from under the rotted body. 

The moment Thomas pulled me up he pushed me behind him; his attention was focused on something else. I was breathing deeply, trying to get my breath back when I followed his sight and saw a stranger standing over the Cranks body, a bloody knife in his hand. 

He was tall, with black hair and enormous muscles. He was also Asian, again I couldn’t remember ever meeting a person of Asian heritage but my memory quickly supplied the words I needed. 

“Who are you?” Thomas demanded an arm held out in front of him, telling the stranger to keep his distance. 

“Your Saviour,” he said with what could only be called an annoyed tone. “You’re welcome by the way.” 

Suddenly I could feel an over whelming pain in my abdomen and looked down to see my white tattered shirt covered with blood. Scratches covered my stomach and arms from where the Crank had attacked me. Some of them felt a bit too deep. 

I felt my head spin and reached out to grab something to hold on too. Thomas quickly turned and reached out a hand to grab me. 

“You’re lucky she wasn’t bitten,” the Asian said and gestured to me, he had walked closer which made Thomas stand straighter. “She will need some treatment, possibly stitches but she won’t turn.” 

“Who are you?” Thomas said again. 

My mind, which was already spinning felt something new intrude, a new feeling. WICKED had heard the commotion and were coming but what was worse so had the 15 Cranks. They were all coming. 

“We have to go,” I said and my voice came out softer than I wanted, I looked at my body to see my arms shaking, great I was going into shock. “We have to go they’re coming. They’re all coming.” I tried to put a more urgent tone in my voice but I think I failed. However, Thomas got the message. The Asian guy just stared at me. 

“We got to go,” I said again and attempted to walk instead I fell to my knees, “crap,” I muttered and tried to push myself back up but my abdominal muscles didn’t want to follow any instructions. 

Thomas was at my side pulling one of my scratched-up arms over his shoulder, it hurt but I just bit my lip to stop myself from saying anything. 

“Teresa,” Thomas said and looked at her still next to the wall, “can you see another way out?”

She began to move only to be interrupted by the Asian. 

“We will leave through the back door,” he said pointing behind him. It must have been how he got into the shop. The Asian quickly grabbed a black bag and pulled it over his shoulder. He quickly moved towards Thomas and me. Thomas started to move away but the Asian gave an irritated growl as he grabbed my other arm and pulled it over his shoulder. 

Together the boys pulled me up, my feet dangling between them. Teresa had already picked up our bag and headed for the back door. 

“It’s clear,” she said after sticking her head out to check. She moved backwards, allowing the two boys and me to go first. 

“Quick,” The Asian said and together we took off up the street. Just as we rounded the corner I felt that WICKED had entered the building, close behind them were the Cranks. The sounds of the ensuing fight followed us up the street and made us pick up our pace.


	2. TWO - LYN

It felt like I had been getting dragged between the two guys for a while as I felt myself slipping in and out of consciousness. 

“Hold on Lyn,” I heard Thomas mutter occasionally but I didn’t care anymore, the pain was slowly fading away. I don’t think that’s a good sign. 

“We’ve got to do something about her wounds,” Teresa said, “she’s losing too much blood.” 

“Lyn,” Thomas said and I felt the pace of their running slow down. “Lyn,” Thomas said again softer this time. I slowly turned my head to look at him but it was an effort. 

“Is there anyone near us?” he asked. I felt myself frown but I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, hello is there anyone out there, I thought. I couldn’t sense anyone near us. 

“We’re good” I whispered. I had actually tried to talk normally but all that came out was a whisper. I felt the Asian guy stare at me but slowly they both lowered me towards the ground. Teresa put an arm around me and helped me sort of sit up. 

I noticed the Asian was beginning to rummage through his back pack. Thomas was hovering over me trying to look at the wounds. 

“Damn it Lyn,” Thomas muttered looking at my torn skin. 

“It’s all good,” I said while trying to smile, “just a flesh wound.” 

Next thing I know the Asian had pushed Thomas out of the way. “Lift her up,” he said with authority in his voice, like he was used to being obeyed.

“What are you doing?” Teresa asked pulling me closer to her body. 

“She’s going to bleed out if we don’t tightly bandage her stomach. If you hold her up I can wrap this around her,” he said and pulled the white bandage tight between his hands. Thomas grabbed one arm and Teresa grabbed my other. Once I was off the ground the Asian began to wind the bandage tight around my middle. The extra support already made me feel a bit better. 

The stranger seemed to have some experience, as he expertly pulled the bandage tight and wrapped the wound. It wasn’t long before I was lowered back onto the ground, propped up against Teresa. 

"We’ve got to keep moving,” the Asian said putting his supplies back into the bag and zipping it up. 

"Where are you taking us?” Thomas said. 

“Somewhere safe.” 

“Oh okay,” Thomas said sarcasm dripping off his voice, “I suppose we should just trust you and follow you into the unknown.”

The Asian stood up and turned to face Thomas, “Listen you Shank! I didn’t have to help you back in that shop. I didn’t have to waste my supplies patching up your friend but I did. Why? Because I’m a good person and am trying to help you. But hey, if you don’t want my help, I’ll be on my way.” 

“Thomas,” Teresa said in a calm tone, “we’ve got nowhere else to go and now Lyn’s injured our pace is going to be cut in half. We also don’t know what else is out there.” 

“Also, the girl needs stitches. That bandage is just a temporary measure. Where we are going I have a friend that can help her.” 

Thomas stood there and I could see him weighing up the options, since he had planned our escape I knew he felt responsible for both Teresa and my safety. Finally, he nodded. 

“Okay,” he said, “lets go.” 

Once again Thomas and the Asian leaned down and pulled my arms around their shoulders and once again we were running through the sand. 

“Where are we going?” Thomas asked again. 

“To a bunker on the out skirts of town,” the Asian said finally answering Thomas’s question. “It’s about another half an hour away. We’ve got to keep moving, it will be night soon and then this place will be crawling with Cranks.” 

Thomas simply nodded. I felt better since my stomach felt supported but I still don’t think I would be able to keep up with them. I did the only thing I could to help which was open my mind and pay attention. 

Ever since I found out I had this ability I had tried to practice using it and when I had told Thomas about it, he had helped a lot. I used to sit in the white room and try to see the people moving around outside. Sometimes people could still sneak up on me if I wasn’t paying attention. I would picture Thomas or Teresa and try to find them in the Compound, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I didn’t know a lot about these abilities or how I got them but if I could help I would try. 

The rest of the jog was silent as most of their energy was being used to carry me and run at the same time. As we moved I kept searching the bleak expanse of wasteland making sure there was no one else near us until finally we came to a stop. 

I opened my eyes and looked around. The sky was darker, getting closer to night. There was still sand everywhere and what used to be a grand building was now falling apart.  
The white stone was dark and covered with brown dirt. The walls were half standing and half missing and the few windows that were still there were either covered in brown sand or broken.

“This is your safe bunker?” Teresa asked sounding unimpressed. 

“No,” the Asian said as he moved me until Thomas was supporting all my weight. The Asian started kicking sand away from the floor until it revealed a hidden door. “This is the safe bunker.” He leaned forward and knocked out a pattern. 

He stood back up and waited. 

“What’s supposed to happen?” Thomas asked as the Asian pulled one of my arms back over his shoulder, so I was once again dangling between them. Before he could answer we heard a noise from under us, something was moving and suddenly a door was swinging open as someone started talking. 

“What time do you call this? You were supposed to be back ages ago, Minho,” the blond British boy finally looked up and his brown eyes widened, “what the bloody hell happened to you shanks?” 

“Long story,” the Asian, clearly called Minho said and started moving forward. The blond guy moved aside and let us pass. I could hear a loud metallic clang as the door closed behind us. 

“We need to get her to Clint,” the blond guy said pushing in front of us and walking ahead. 

Walking down the stairs from the cellar door, we entered a black tunnel. The new guy kept walking and Minho followed along pulling Thomas and me with him, I could hear Teresa walking just behind us. Up ahead there was a warm light indicating the end of the tunnel, there were a few more people up there but my accuracy was beginning to falter as I was growing more and more light headed. 

Finally, we walked into the room, we arrived just in time to see the British guy walk into another room. He was in there for a second before he returned followed by two other guys. One of the guys was smaller than the other two, he was black with short cropped hair and kind eyes. The other one was tall and lean, he had mousy blond hair and the most perfect eyebrows I had ever seen. His face however did not look as friendly as the others, his mouth was pulled down in a scowl as he approached us. 

The smaller guy made his way over to us and looked down at the bandage.

“She’s bleeding through,” he murmured, “quick place her down on the table,” he said louder and began walking around gathering stuff. Minho began moving and Thomas followed, it wasn’t long before I was being placed down on a long wooden table, staring at the white ceiling. 

I heard yelling in the background before someone yelled out, “Slim it, Gally” it sounded British, maybe the blond guy was talking, or maybe there was another British guy here. 

Minho had vanished from my sight but Thomas was still next to me. He wasn’t watching me though; the black guy had come back with a bag of things. The first thing I saw was a needle and I started to panic. 

After everything that WICKED had done to me, I didn’t want any other needles near me ever again. 

“Calm down,” the boy with the needle said in a calm tone, “this is to put you to sleep while I stitch you up. It’s going to hurt a lot.” 

“No,” I said panicking and started trying to sit up, “no,” I repeated. Whenever WICKED had put me to sleep, I would be out for days or weeks at a time and I never knew what they had done to me, or tested me for. I would not be doing that again. 

Thomas started trying to grab my arms and hold me down but I continued to thrash. Minho had now come back and was holding my legs down. 

“No,” I started to scream while trying to fight them all off. The blond boy was now above me holding my shoulders down. 

She’s injuring herself more,” said the boy with the needle. 

“Lyn,” I heard Thomas say but I wasn’t paying attention, my eyes were drawn to the needle, “Lyn, Lyn” he repeated trying to get my attention, “Evelyn!” he finally yelled and my eyes moved to him. “Nothing will happen, I will be next to you the entire time holding your hand. It’s not the same. I will be here.” 

“You promise,” I said and felt about two feet tall. 

“Of course, trust me.” 

“I don’t want to sleep again,” I whispered at him. 

“It’s just a little while and I will be right here,” Thomas let go of my arms and grabbed my hand instead. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. I nodded my head and felt the hands holding me down relax me. Thomas kept my hand in his. I squeezed my eyes shut as I saw the needle approach me. I felt the small pin prick and something entering my blood stream. I felt a hand brushing the hair back from my face and a soft voice telling me it was all going to be okay. Then everything went black.


	3. THREE - NEWT

I watched as the girl’s scrunched up eyes began to relax and her breathing become more even. The boy next to her never released her hand and kept pushing the hair out of her eyes. I turned to look at the other girl who was still standing near the door way, her skin was red from being out in the Scorch, her black hair hung around her face in clumps. Her clothes were covered in dirt and some blood and her black boots were well worn. 

Looking back at the guy I noticed he too was covered in dirt and blood, it looked as though none of them had been able to have a shower in the past couple of days. Nor did they seem to have a change of clothes. The girl on the table of course looked worse, as her shirt was ripped and blood soaked, her auburn hair was covered in dirt and grime and nearly all of her was covered in dirt. I looked away as Clint began cutting her shirt off of her. She deserved some privacy. 

“Where did you come from?” A voice behind me demanded. I took a deep breath, of course Gally couldn’t just be quiet. 

The boy turned around his hand never letting go of the girls but he didn’t say anything. Instead he began to look at us each in turn, taking note of who was in the room. I also noticed his eyes glancing towards all the doors, perhaps looking for a quick escape route. It wasn’t odd behaviour for someone to have, but it was strange that there were three people. 

“What group are you from?” Gally once again demanded and I felt him begin to walk closer. I reached out and placed a hand on his chest. 

“Oi, calm down you shank,” I said and pushed him back. I turned to him as I finished my statement, “give them a minute to catch their breath and get their bearings. If you hadn’t noticed one of them is currently out cold.” 

“This isn’t the time to be calm!” Gally yelled in my face, “we don’t know anything about these people, they could be with WICKED or F.E.A.R for all we know.” He turned then and faced Minho, “you, you were supposed to be looking for resources and food not people. Did you even find out anything about them before you brought them back here?” Gally was now standing in front of Minho and poking him in the chest. 

“If you touch me with that finger again, I will break it,” Minho said. I saw the dangerous glint in his eyes and quickly walked over to push them apart. 

“Both of you slim it!” I yelled between them, “this is not the way to find things out.” 

“What’s that on your neck?” Clint’s voice said softly beside the girl but he was pointing at the boy. The boy quickly turned around and placed his hand over his neck. 

I squinted and moved closer, “are you hiding something?” 

He didn’t speak but his face became a hard mask of defiance and I knew he wouldn’t answer my question. Luckily, he didn’t have to, Clint spoke up again. 

“It’s on her neck to,” he said looking at the sleeping girl’s neck, “It’s a tattoo saying Property of WICKED.” 

I heard Minho take a deep breath at that revelation, while Gally just threw his hands up. 

“Well that’s just great!” sarcasm dripped from his voice, “we’ve got three fugitives probably all wanted by WICKED. I knew there was something going on. WICKED have been patrolling the city more recently.” 

“You’re from WICKED?” I asked the boy, who still had that defiant glint in his eyes but I saw his eyes harden. Clint had taken a step back from the girl, stopping his medical administrations. 

“So, what if we are?” said the girl in the corner, I had forgotten about her.

“We need to take them back!” Gally called out. 

“No!” The boy said standing up and drawing all our eyes to him, he still hadn’t let go of the girl’s hand. 

“Everyone let’s calm down,” I said raising my hands in a surrendering gesture, “we will not be handing anyone over to WICKED. It’s obvious these shanks have a story, one I hope they will share but they will not share, if they feel threatened. So Gally if you say one more word I will throw you out of the room. Clint keep helping the girl, it’s not right not to help someone who needs it.” 

Gally opened his mouth and I already knew the unpleasant comment he was about to say, “I swear Gally one more word and you’re out of here.” 

Gally closed his mouth but his face was a nasty shade of red. I knew he was just worried and scared of the strangers but everyone’s a stranger before you get to know them. 

“Sit down,” I said and gestured to the boy who returned to his seat next to the unconscious girl. The other girl moved for the first time, walking over to her comrades and sitting down. Minho propped himself against a wall, Clint began to stitch again and I grabbed another wooden chair and pulled it over to sit in front of them. 

“Okay,” I said trying to keep my tone neutral, “easy questions first. What are your names?” 

The boy and the girl shared a look before finally answering my question, it didn’t surprise me that it was the boy who spoke. 

“Thomas and Teresa,” he said before glancing down at the unconscious girl, “and Evelyn.” 

“Okay Tommy, see that wasn’t too hard,” my use of nickname seemed to surprise him but he didn’t say anything. “My name’s Newt, the person who found you is Minho, Clint’s our resident med-jack and the angry shank in the corner is Gally.” 

“Med-jack, shank?” the girl said in a questioning tone, her face confused. 

I heard Minho laugh against his wall, “just slang we’ve come up with.” 

“What were you doing out in the Scorch by yourself? I assume you’re not with a group?” 

Thomas looked a bit confused at some of my terminology but after a quick look at Teresa he started talking. 

“Three day’s ago, the three of us escaped from WICKED.” 

“That’s impossible!” Gally interrupted, “no one escapes from WICKED! They are probably undercover trying to get more people for WICKED!” 

“Slim it,” Minho called across at him. 

“While I don’t agree completely with Gally,” Clint began, “I’ve never heard of people escaping from WICKED before.” 

“No,” Thomas interrupted a far off look on his face, “people have tried it before they just never last long before they are either found or killed.”

“So, how’d you escape?” Minho asked. 

There was silence before the girl, Teresa started talking. “We’ve been at WICKED for as long as we can remember, they were experimenting on us, looking for something. We have suffered from years of experiments and tests and trials, we couldn’t take it anymore. A few weeks ago, Tom found out that they were planning on transporting him to another compound. Finally, the day came but somehow, Tom escaped from his guards and caused a distraction. I think he blew something up. Then he came back for us. Lyn was able to tell, where and when people were coming and directed us out the deserted corridors. Once we were outside we just kept running.” 

“What do you mean she could tell you when and where people were coming?” I asked but I was met with silence. 

“I noticed that earlier,” Minho said, “when we had a break you asked her if anyone was near by and when we were in the shop, she knew people were coming before we could hear or see anything.” 

Still silence. 

“We don’t know,” Teresa said looking at Thomas and then at the unconscious girl, “it’s just something Lyn does.” The look on Tommy’s face suggests he knew more than he was letting on but I decided to let it go for the time being. 

“Okay, you escaped. What happened next? How did you spend three days in the Scorch and not die?” 

“We didn’t know the world was like this?” Teresa said before Thomas shot her a look and she stopped talking. 

“What do you mean, you didn’t know?” 

Teresa looked at the boy again. I kind of worked out that he was the leader of this little group, however Teresa chose to ignore him. 

“WICKED did something to us,” she began looking around at us, “they messed with out minds, got rid of our memories. The only thing we know from before WICKED is our names everything else is about being stuck in the compound. We had no idea about what happened to the world and only through listening in to conversations at WICKED did we learn about Cranks and the Flare Virus.” 

“You expect us to believe you know nothing about the world?” Gally said sounding incredulous. 

“We don’t,” Thomas said meeting each of our eyes and I got to say something about his tired eyes made me believe him. “After the first few hours on the first day, we were all dying of heat exhaustion but then we managed to find a little shop that had some things. We got better prepared but I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have survived much longer. We were looking for somewhere to crash for the night when we ran into you,” Thomas finished looking at Minho. 

“Told you, I’m your Saviour.”


	4. FOUR - NEWT

Minho, Clint, Gally and I were gathered to one end of the wooden table. We asked the others if they would like to clean themselves up a bit, no offense but they smelt. They didn’t want to leave their friend alone but after a while we managed to convince them she would be okay. 

“You don’t honestly believe that klunk do you?” Gally said the moment we had gathered. 

“Why would they lie?” Minho countered crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Why wouldn’t they lie?” Gally said and threw his hands in the air, “this could be their way of infiltrating us and leading either WICKED, F.E.A.R or another group to take over us. We have spent the past three years building up The Gladers and these three greenies could tear it all down.” 

“It’s weird though,” Clint began, “why would there be three of them, wouldn’t it make more sense for just one person to infiltrate a group.” 

“It doesn’t matter how many people they send, it only matters if we are stupid enough to let them in!” Gally argued. 

“All I know,” Minho began, “is that when I found them in that shop, the little one, Lyn was under a Crank fighting for her life and the guy Thomas was struggling to pull it off her. If they were with another group they wouldn’t have been out there under manned like that. I mean you’ve seen what they’ve got on them, they have little food and no weapons. They won’t last long out in the Scorch. Hell, that girl, Lyn would probably be dead.” 

“That’s not our problem,” Gally insisted. 

“Are you telling me you could have stood by and watched them all die?” Minho said taking a step closer to Gally his hands fisted at his side. 

“I would have run past and let what was going to happen, happen,” Gally replied also taking a step forward. Once again, I found myself pushing myself between the boys and holding them off each other. 

“Slim it you two,” I said in annoyance, a fight between these two seemed to happen about twelve times a day. “I believe their story and I don’t think they will survive out there for long. I think we should take them back to The Gladers with us.” I could already feel Gally getting ready to fight with me so I just shot him a look before continuing, “of course we will have a vote and when we get back to The Gladers, Alby and Harriet and the other Keepers can make a decision.” 

“They would already know the way to our encampment,” Gally said determined to poke holes in my plan but I had, had enough. 

“Then we will blindfold them or something, that’s an issue for tomorrow. Right now, we just need to vote if we will take them to The Gladers or not. All against?” 

I wasn’t surprised when only Gally put his hand up. He looked at Clint and I think he looked a little betrayed. 

“The injured girl will need the stitches out eventually,” Clint said as his defence. 

Minho smiled, “okay that’s settled, we will take them with us tomorrow and then the rest can make the big decision.” 

“You’re all making a huge mistake, they’re going to be trouble mark my words,” Gally said before walking off to sulk. Clint walked after him, probably to try and talk him out his mood. 

“Sometimes he is such a drama queen,” Minho said as he slapped my back and walked past me, “I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I wish Frypan was here to cook. I’m starving.” 

I laughed as Minho also walked out, heading towards the showers. I looked over at the unconscious girl, I think they had called her Evelyn, she was still lying on the wooden table. Clint had stitched up some of the wounds and re-wrapped them before placing a sheet over the top half of her. I knew that lying on the table wasn’t comfortable and there was a worn-out couch in the corner, which was pretty comfy. I walked over and wrapped the sheet tighter around her before lifting her up and moving her to the couch. She was lighter than I thought, she was just a small thing but still, she would probably look better once she got some more meat on her bones. 

I placed her on the couch and backed away but still I couldn’t leave her in the room alone. She had seemed so scared before when Clint had been trying to put her to sleep. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to the three of them at WICKED. I was even more amazed that they had managed to escape. I grabbed the wooden chair from earlier and pulled it to the other end of the couch, sitting with her as she slept. 

A noise in the corner of the room made me look up. I saw the new boy, Thomas walking back into the room. He looked healthier now that he was clean, his skin was a bit red but that should fade in time, his short brown hair was still half wet. It seemed he had managed to find some more clothes, dressed in a tight fitting blue shirt and some black cargo pants. The black boots looked the same though but it seemed he had tried to clean them. He looked panicked when he saw the empty table but visibly relaxed when he saw her on the couch. 

“I thought it would be more comfortable,” I said but made no effort to move from my spot. 

Tommy just nodded before walking over and pulling another chair over. He sat at the opposite end of the couch from me. 

“Is she your girlfriend?” I asked curiosity taking over. 

He turned bright red before he managed to stutter out, “what… no way. She’s like a sister to me.” I nodded. I knew the feeling of having a sibling in danger and it was not a feeling I ever wanted to go through again. It had taken a few weeks before I would finally let Sonya out of my sight. I was pretty sure I had gotten on both her an Aris’s nerves. They never got to have any alone time. 

“What about the other one?” I asked. His reaction was different this time, he still turned red but it was more like I had caught him, “ah well your face just gave you away mate.” 

“It’s complicated,” he finally said and I chose not to push it. 

“We decided to take you with us tomorrow,” I told him and once again watched his face change back to a blank slate. 

“Take us where?” he sounded apprehensive but he tried to mask it. He was out in a truly unknown world but he was trying to act all tough and brave. He made a good leader. 

“To the rest of our group. This place is just a bunker we stay in when we go on resource runs. There’s loads more of us back at the encampment. We may blindfold you to take you there though because if the leaders vote you out, I’m sorry but we will probably take you somewhere and drop you off. It’s safer if you don’t know how to find us in case you join with another group.” 

“What are these groups you keep talking about? All I know is WICKED and they are no group. More like a monstrous organisation or a hive following the orders of their queen.” 

“You don’t really know much do you?” 

Tommy shot me a dirty look, “how many times do we have to say we don’t know anything before you believe us.” 

“Don’t worry I believe you,” I replied and leaned back in the chair. “Let’s start from the beginning then shall we. Let’s see maybe about ten years ago or something like that, an unheard-of phenomenon occurred. The world as we knew it was devastated by a series of massive solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The sun was now scorching the world, killing millions of people, the vegetation, animals everything was changing. What no one knew at the time was it also brought with it a new virus, which has since been dubbed the Flare Virus, fitting right. Anyway, this virus was weird, it affects people’s brains, making them angry and violent whatever personality they had before was lost. It kept going until eventually you were like a mindless zombie and your only goal was to attack. These are the Cranks, which I know you’re familiar with. You with me so far?” 

I had been watching Tommy’s face grow whiter and whiter as I talked but I wasn’t even halfway through yet. He quickly nodded and indicated for me to continue. 

“Once the Virus became well known the evil organisation of WICKED popped up. They went around gathering anyone who showed an immunity to the virus, which I guess is good news for you. No one really knows what they are doing but the public image is that they are searching for a cure. Who knows if they will ever find one but they keep taking people whenever they find some. This lead to people forming groups, you know that old saying, “it’s better to stick together,” or something like that. At first these groups were a good thing and people were finding places to belong but then we started running out of supplies like food and medicine and stuff like that so of course, the groups turned on each other.” 

“So, you’re taking us to your group tomorrow?” 

“Yep, we call ourselves The Gladers, not really sure why but we’ve been around for about 3 years now. Too late to change it.” 

“And there are more of these groups?” 

“Yeah but not all of them are good. One group that popped up and, in my mind, they could rival WICKED in their evil ways is FEAR.” 

“FEAR,” Thomas repeated. 

“Yep and it’s a fitting name too. I’m pretty sure everyone’s afraid of FEAR. FEAR gather up Cranks and use them as their own personal army to take over other groups. I’ve even heard rumours that they are doing human experiments as well but I hope this is just a rumour.”

“Just what we need another group like WICKED,” Thomas sighed and his head dropped into his hands. 

“Hey,” I said leaning forward, “I’m sure you will be allowed to stay with us. I already know two people who are going to fight for you. Minho and I are on the council so you’re in luck.” 

Tommy nodded his head until he looked up with a sudden urgency, “what about that other guy Gally? Is he on the council?” 

I knew my face gave away the answer when I saw Tommy’s face drop, “don’t worry, most people ignore Gally.” 

He nodded his head but I could tell he was still doubtful. 

“You should try and get some sleep,” I said, he looked like he hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in ages. 

“I’m fine,” he said and sat up straight in his chair, “I can’t leave her alone.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay here.” He still looked like he wasn’t going to move, “Seriously Tommy if you don’t get any sleep you won’t be any good tomorrow.” 

I felt his resolve shaking, “I wonder sometimes if I did the right thing getting them out of WICKED or am I just leading them to their deaths.” 

“That’s a lot of responsibility on your shoulders,” I said. During my time with him, he was slowly gaining my respect. “Don’t worry about it right now. Tonight at least you’ve got some other people on your side. Go sleep. Ask Minho to show you where my bed is and you can crash there.” 

After looking at the girl for a while he finally nodded his head and stood up. 

“Night Tommy,” I called after him. 

“Night…Newt,” he replied which surprised me a bit. With a small smile I stretched and leaned back on the chair, when all for legs were back on the ground I settled myself down for a long night. I glanced at the unconscious girl only to see two bright green eyes watching me. She was awake.


	5. FIVE - LYN

Pain is radiating through my stomach, the pressure that was holding my hand is gone but I can still hear Thomas’s voice. It was slowly pulling me out of my sleep and back into a world of pain. Just as I was going to say something I tuned into the conversation. 

It was Thomas, he was talking to someone I didn’t know, the voice sounded familiar like maybe I heard it before I passed out but I couldn’t put a face to it. All I knew was the accent was British. The conversation sounded intense, the stranger was talking about the world and how it changed. Not wanting to interrupt I kept my eyes shut, listening. 

It sounded so bad, the sun flares, the virus, the anarchy between groups and what’s worse, this group called FEAR. The name felt familiar but I knew I had never heard of them before, maybe someone at WICKED had said it once. 

Finally, it seemed like the conversation was winding down, the stranger was trying to convince Thomas to sleep. A good idea, Thomas had stayed up on watch the past two nights. 

All of a sudden Thomas muttered, “I wonder sometimes if I did the right thing getting them out of WICKED or am I just leading them to their deaths.” I felt a surge of guilt. I didn’t want Thomas to feel this responsibility towards us. We followed him of our own volition he didn’t force us to go with him. 

I heard the stranger say goodnight and then I heard Thomas say goodnight to Newt. What type of name was that? I opened my eyes to see who belonged to the name Newt. It was the Blonde British guy from earlier. I watched as he stretched in his chair, yawning and leaning back. He straightened up and looked like he was settling into his chair when he looked over at me and froze. 

Suddenly he was jumping up, “you’re awake,” he said and walked closer to me. I flinched a little as he walked closer and he must have noticed because he stopped walking and raised his hands up in front of him. 

“Are you feeling okay? Are you in any pain? I’ll call Clint,” he turned to walk away. 

“Stop,” I said my voice was a little croaky from disuse but he still heard me and turned back around to look at me. “I’m okay, I wouldn’t mind a drink.” 

“Drink, right,” he said and walked out of my view. I tried to use my arms to push my self up into a seated position. It was then I realised I didn’t have a shirt on. The only thing that stopped the top half of me being exposed was a really flimsy white sheet. I quickly grasped that tighter around my body. I looked down to see there were bandages along both of my arms, covering up the damage done by the Crank. I would have investigated what my torso looked like but I didn’t want to flash anyone. 

The guy called Newt was back in a minute with a glass of water in his hands. I reached out to grab it and felt the sheet move, I quickly retracted my arm and looked at his face. I was pleased to see he had looked away although I might have seen a pink flush along his cheeks. 

“I’ll go grab you a shirt,” he said holding the glass closer to me so I didn’t have to move my arm as much. I managed to take the glass and he vanished again. I quickly gulped it all down. By the time I had finished, Newt was back with a black tank top and a white cotton shirt. I was happy he had brought the tank top because the white shirt looked see though. 

“I’m sorry they might be a little big. We don’t have any girl clothes here but once we get back to the Gladers tomorrow I can get you some of my sister’s things.”

I nodded as I took the clothes from him and he turned his back as I tried to dress. Damn it hurt to move certain muscles. I sort of wished Teresa was out here to help me get it on but if she was sleeping I would leave her be. 

I cleared my throat to let Newt know he could turn back around, which he did. He then sat back down in the chair from earlier. 

“How long have you been awake?” he asked curiosity in his voice. 

“Long enough to hear about the horrors of the world,” I said and sighed, “I can’t believe the world is like this.” 

“It’s not so bad,” Newt said, “The Glade, that’s what we call our camp, runs smoothly and life goes on. At times it can be stressful but most of the time its easy to forget about things like the Cranks and WICKED.” 

“Do you think we will be allowed to stay?” 

“Tough question,” Newt said and rubbed the back of his neck, “I can’t tell you how the other Gladers will vote but I do know that we normally take in people who need help. Gally might make a fuss about you shanks being from WICKED but it’s not like you were in charge of the organisation. You were just guinea pigs.” 

“More like blood bags,” I muttered absentmindedly. I quickly realised what I said and looked up to see if Newt had heard me. I didn’t want to go into the gory details of my time at WICKED. Unfortunately, from the look Newt was giving me he had heard what I said but he quickly blinked and moved the conversation on.

“You should probably get some rest,” he said but made no move to get out of his chair, “it’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.” 

“If we are allowed to stay what will happen?” 

“If you stay?” Newt clarified and I nodded, “Well if you win the vote you will have to be useful. In the Glade everyone has a job to help things run smoothly. There are jobs like med-jack, sloppers, builders, runners and a bunch more. We will probably try you out in a few of the different jobs, see what suits you and then everyday you will be expected to perform various duties for your job. Don’t worry though none of the jobs are too hard.” 

“What’s your job?” 

“Me?” he seemed a bit surprised I had asked, “I suppose I do a bit of everything, go where I’m needed. That’s why I’m with the runners at the moment.” 

“What do the runners do? Why do they leave the Glade?” 

“Runners are in charge of getting more supplies. When we start to run low on resources like food or medicine we do a run. Only a select few can become runners though because you’ve got to be the best and I don’t mean the best at just running, you have to be quick, able to think on your feet, make hard decisions and be prepared to risk your life.” 

“So, you’re one of the best?” 

That made him laugh, “Once upon a time maybe. I used to be a runner but a year ago I got hurt, broke my leg, ever since then I can’t run the same and at times my leg lets me down. I only came today because we needed an extra driver but I didn’t actually leave the bunker. That sounds a bit pathetic right.” Newt seemed to look a bit discouraged, he had looked down and wouldn’t look at me anymore. 

“Well that’s just stupid,” said another voice causing both Newt and I to jump, which really hurt me. I couldn’t turn my head to see who was behind me which upset me but the voice did sound familiar. 

“Minho,” Newt said and sighed exaggeratedly. Minho, he was the Asian guy who had helped us earlier, with the big muscles. 

“No seriously Newt that’s so stupid, you’re like the second in command back at the group. After Alby everyone follows you. So, what if you can’t run like you used to, there is still so much you do to keep us alive and help us survive. I won’t listen to you throw yourself a pity party. You’re still plenty awesome you shank.” Minho finished his rant with a massive smile on his face, glancing back at Newt I saw he was also smiling. 

“Okay, okay,” Newt said, “what are you still doing up? We’re leaving early tomorrow and if you’re not up we will leave you behind.” 

“What are you talking about? I’m always the first one up,” Minho said as he walked off somewhere, I heard water and figured he was getting himself a drink. 

“When are we leaving?” I said looking back at Newt. 

“Bright and early. Don’t worry I’ll make sure we don’t leave with out you.” 

“So you won’t leave the girl behind but me you have no problem ditching.” Minho said and although I could feel hurt in his voice, I was pretty sure he was faking it. 

“Go to sleep you stupid shank,” Newt called at him. 

“Yes leader,” was Minho’s parting shot as I heard his feet retreat. 

“You should get some sleep too,” Newt said looking at me. I could feel my eyes getting heavier and knew that I was beyond tired so I simply nodded and settled myself back against the pillows. 

Newt didn’t move though, he was still sitting in his chair watching me, “you can go sleep too,” I said. 

“I’m okay, I might stay here a little longer,” he used his feet to pull the other wooden chair closer to him and propped his feet up. “Besides I just gave away my bed to Tommy.”

I nodded and got a little more comfortable which was hard because of the tight feeling in both my arms and torso. I glanced back at Newt, it looked like he was going to fall asleep there, his eyes closed so it surprised me when he spoke. 

“Night Evie.” 

My eyes widened as I looked at him, his were still shut. No one had given me a nickname before. I know the others called me Lyn but that was because that’s the first thing I remembered. It had been a few hours later that I remembered my whole name. Evelyn. 

“Night Newt.” 

I closed my eyes and felt a little more safe and secure knowing someone was sleeping close to me.


	6. SIX - LYN

Once again, I was waking up to the sound of people whispering. I could feel how many people were in the room and tell how close they were to me. People felt different to Cranks who I visualised as red angry dots in my head. People took on different colours. I could always recognise Thomas as I tended to see him in a light shade of blue. I think that was because it was the colour I had identified with him, he had always been wearing some different shade of blue ever since I first saw him, so that was his colour.

Teresa was always a shade of grey, my reasoning was that although we had spent time together, I still didn’t know her like I knew Thomas. I didn’t trust her as much and would edit certain things I told her. I could sense that the two of them were not in this room but one just over, with someone else I didn’t know. I knew if I focused harder I would be able to see into that room and see exactly who was in that room rather then just sense it.  
There were currently three people in the room with me, I could sense them as different shades of white, I think this was because I didn’t really know them, I hadn’t assessed them yet but one person, who was the closest to me had a tint of orange to them. I didn’t know what that colour meant but I did know who it was. Newt. I opened my eyes and saw that he was still sitting in his chair from last night. His arms folded in front of him, his head tilted forward as he slept. His breathing looked even. 

“I still think we should forget what Newt said and leave the greenies behind,” said a gruff voice from behind me. 

“You shanks know I can hear you right?” I looked back up to see that Newt hadn’t moved a muscle but he must be awake. “I told you last night and we voted. The three greenies will come with us and when we get back to the Glade we will have a vote with everyone.” 

I heard one of the people begin to move and storm out of the room. Looking back at Newt I saw he now had his eyes open. 

“Don’t worry about Gally,” he said looking at me before standing up, “well I guess it’s time to get up and start the day. You may want to clean up a bit.” He gestured to me, “you might make a better impression if you’re not covered in dirt and blood.” 

I couldn’t help but smile at that comment, I haven’t cared about my appearance for as long as I could remember. At WICKED you’re only able to shower when they let you, your only able to do anything when they let you. 

I tried to sit up but instantly fell back down on the couch, my stomach hurt too much. I don’t think I will be able to use those muscles for a while.

I heard Newt let out a chuckle, “do you need a hand?” without waiting for an answer he reached out a hand. I felt heat rise to my cheeks as I felt so useless, I couldn’t even stand up by myself. 

I grabbed his hand and with his help I managed to stand up but I quickly stumbled and it was only thanks to his arms that I didn’t fall back down. 

“Whoa,” he said with a small smile, “you might need some help. I’ll walk you to your friend Teresa, I think she’s still in the bedroom.” 

As we made our way slowly to the bedroom Minho popped out another door. A quick look at Newt with his arms around me, had him raising his eyes brows and wolf whistling. 

“Slim it you slinthead,” Newt said but it didn’t sound aggressive. Minho just laughed as he walked past us. 

Finally, we made it to the bedroom. To be honest it didn’t look to much like a bedroom. The plaster on the walls was falling off revealing the wooden panels behind. There was a single light bulb hanging in the middle of the room. There were no bed frames, just five mattresses thrown on the floor, some of the mattresses had white sheets on them and some of them were bare. In the corner sitting on one of the mattresses with their backs against the wall was Thomas and Teresa. At our arrival they looked up. 

“Lyn,” Thomas said and instantly got up, Teresa was quick to follow, “how do you feel?”

“Alright,” I said sheepishly, while trying to stand up straighter and by myself. Newt released me but he kept his hands up in case I needed them. “I was just thinking about cleaning myself up and getting rid of some of the blood.” 

Thomas was by my side in a second, “yeah of course,” he started leading me to another doorway, what must have been the bathroom. I lightly tapped his arms while Teresa laughed. 

“Um…Tom, I’ve got it from here,” Teresa said and moved up to my other side. The two of us shared a little laugh as we continued walking. 

I heard Newt laughing as well before he said, “smooth Tommy, smooth.” 

Teresa and I made it into the other room, it was a small bathroom. All four walls were covered in mismatched blue tiles, some had fallen off revealing the cement behind them. In the far corner there was a shower, and a bathtub, there was a toilet just behind the door and a little sink. Above the sink was a smashed mirror. 

“Ah finally it’s just us girls,” Teresa said and helped me sit down on the edge of the bathtub. “We’ve outnumbered Tom for the past few days, it’s weird now, to be surrounded by guys.” 

“I supposed it was a bit worse for you, I was knocked out for half the night. It was just you and the guys. Did they tell you much about what’s going to happen today? Or about the world in general?”

“Not really, I sort of just fell asleep after I cleaned up,” Teresa said as she began to brush her fingers through my hair. “I think that Gally guy doesn’t like us. He seems to think we’re spies or something.”

“I don’t think I’ve met him yet,” I said trying not to wince as her fingers caught in the tangles. 

“If you haven’t seen him, you’ve probably heard him. He is quiet vocal.” Teresa’s fingers paused in my hair, “I’m going to go get a towel and maybe a bucket. This stuffs not coming out.” 

I laughed as Teresa walked out to get the stuff she needed. I would really like to feel clean, at the moment I felt, hurt and dirty and tired. I felt like I could sleep for a week and thinking about all the crap in my hair and on my clothes wasn’t making me feel better, not to mention half of it was in fact my own blood. 

Teresa came back and soon after I had clean hair, clean skin, new clothes, I’m pretty sure Newt had leant me some more of his. I felt a million times better, I was even able to walk by myself. 

As we exited the bathroom I noticed all the mattresses had now been stripped and we saw Thomas, Newt and Minho all standing around in the room. They stopped talking as we walked in the room but Minho was quick to start talking. 

“Well don’t you look better when you’re not covered in blood. Although those clothes look way to big on you. You look like a kid.” 

“Well I’m sorry,” Newt said rolling his eyes but he had a smile on his face, “It’s not like we had any girl clothes lying around.” 

“Anyway, now that everyone’s here,” Minho said, clapping his hands together, “let’s roll. Greenies you’re with me and Newt, I think that’s better than putting you with Gally.” 

“Good that,” Newt said and began to make his way from the room, Minho stood aside and began to usher us all past the door. Thomas came back over to me and Teresa, I think he was standing by in case I needed the help. 

I managed to walk all the way out the bunker which made me feel pretty happy although the whole time I was listening to Minho complain about my snail pace. As we walked out the metal doors and into the burning sun I noticed there were two jeeps parked out front. The other people who were at the bunker were throwing bags into the back of one of the jeeps. 

“This is stupid,” the one with perfect eyebrows said but he was scowling, “it’s bad to have most of the resources in one car. What if something happens? Then the Gladers will go without food and medicine for a week or two.” 

“Gally, slim it,” Minho said, “you know what’s even worse than having everything in one place? Talking about something bad happening. You’ve just jinxed us.” 

“Oi, both of you slim it and get in the cars. We need to move,” Newt said and walked around the front of one of the Jeeps. As he walked I noticed a slight limp in one of his legs. I remember last night he mentioned an accident that had hurt his leg but I didn’t have time to ponder my thoughts as Minho was quickly hurrying the ‘greenies’ as he kept calling us into the back of the jeep. 

Once all of us were settled in the back, Newt took off, the other jeep was close behind. I watched in awe as the jeep took off. As far as I could remember I had never been in a car before. 

“We’ll be driving non-stop for a while then we will take a short break during which we will blindfold you, sorry” Minho said looking back over the chair at us, “then we will arrive at the Glade.” 

I felt some butterflies in my stomach, I really wanted to find a safe place to belong. I didn’t know anything about this world and it scared me.


	7. SEVEN - NEWT

The drive back to the Glade told me a lot about the three greenies we had picked up. For starters that Tommy bugger had an insatiable curiosity. I swear every five seconds he would think of a new question to ask, after we answered he would be quiet for a second and then start spouting new ones. I used the excuse of driving to get out of answering them, leaving it to Minho but at times he was a little too sarcastic, or trying to be funny, tell them the wrong information. That’s when I stepped in. It wouldn’t do good for the greenies to not understand the world around them. 

The girl Teresa kept quiet most of the time only speaking up occasionally to ask her own question or to clarify an answer. It was the girl next to them that sparked my interest the most. 

Last night, after Evie had fallen asleep Clint had come to talk to me about her treatment and something else he had noticed. While he was working on her arm, he noticed another small tattoo on the inside of her right wrist. He described it as a barcode tattoo but it was done in white ink. 

It had been puzzling me the whole the night, surely it was another mark from WICKED. When I had helped her stand this morning and she had reached out her hand, I could just make out the faint marks on her wrist. There were no words or anything just the lines in the formation of a barcode. I figured they all must have one but during the morning when I had been talking to Tommy and I noticed that he didn’t seem to have the mark. So of course, I had asked about it when Evie was in the bathroom with Teresa. Minho had also been there to overhear the conversation. I replayed the conversation in my mind to try and make sense of it. 

“Lyn’s different from me and Teresa,” Tommy had started. 

“What do you mean?” Minho asked walking up to join us, “you mean like how she can sense people coming?” 

“Not just that,” Tommy looked conflicted and I could tell he was waging an inside war about whether to tell us or not. Eventually he sighed and started talking. “Teresa and I have been at WICKED for the past six years but Lyn she only showed up about a year and a half ago. Of course, her memory was wiped so she doesn’t remember a thing from her past but it wasn’t long before Teresa and I noticed she was different.” 

“Different how?” I asked curiosity getting the better of me.

Tommy looked up at us and I saw the battle was back in his eyes. 

“You need to tell us what you know, it may help you get voted to stay,” I said trying to push him into continuing. 

“Or it will convince us to leave you behind,” Minho said and I shot him a death glare. 

“It’s nothing bad,” Tommy was quick to say, “Lyn just has this ability. You might have heard us mentioning it. We noticed it back when we were at WICKED. We used to sneak out to explore when we were younger and when she came we kept doing it except now we wouldn’t get caught. She would always know when people were coming. I don’t know how she can do it and I don’t think WICKED did it to her. Teresa used to say she could hear screams coming from the room next to her at night, she thinks Lyn has nightmares but she never remembers them the next day.” 

“So, she’s crazy?” Minho asked and this time I slapped the back of his head. 

“No,” Tommy said and I saw a flash of anger in his eyes, “I think she came from a very bad place but she doesn’t remember it. We’ve asked her before how she got the tattoo on her wrist but she doesn’t remember.” 

“It’s like a branding,” Minho said, “they used to do that to livestock didn’t they so they knew what was what. Maybe who ever had her before WICKED catalogued her too? Maybe they want her back?” 

After listening to them talk and thinking back to the girl I talked to yesterday, I couldn’t think of her as crazy or dangerous. I didn’t think we should change our plan to bring the three of them to the Glade. There was only one thing I knew, one person I knew we couldn’t tell, “Whatever you do, don’t tell Gally any of this.”

The new knowledge about Evie’s past didn’t matter to me because truthfully, she couldn’t even remember her past. The person she used to be before WICKED took her doesn’t exist anymore. WICKED took care of that. What did matter is who she is now and from everything Tommy had told us, she was loyal, brave and courageous. The reason she had been hurt was because she pushed him out the way. These are the types of qualities I look for when I judge a person and these are the qualities that would make her a good Glader. Tommy’s curiosity and backbone also ranked high on the traits I desired in a Glader. Teresa we will see about but these two would definitely fit in. 

We kept driving for a little while longer, with Gally and Clint following close behind. When we were about an hour away from the Glade we pulled off the road, to take a break and stretch our limbs, we had been driving non-stop for the past few hours.

“Break time,” Minho called as he jumped out the passenger door. I just laughed at his stupid antics and followed suit, I could hear the greenies getting out as well.

“Alright,” I said taking charge and walking over to the back of the other jeep, I quickly began to pull out one of the bags. “It’s just a quick break, have a snack, bathroom break, go for a walk, whatever but in ten minutes we are back in the cars and driving.” I began to distribute a water bottle and muesli bar to everyone. 

“What about the greenies?” Gally called as I chucked him a muesli bar. 

“Don’t worry I remember and they have all be told about your blindfold idea,” I walked over to the three greenies and handed them all some food and water. “Don’t worry it won’t be too long, we’ve only got about an hour left.” 

“It’s okay we get it,” Tommy said and took a bite out of his bar, “got to protect yourselves right.” 

I just nodded and walked to the boot of the jeep. I placed the bag back and began to eat my own share. There wasn’t too much talking. Minho had walked ahead a bit to do some scouting but he should be back soon. Gally was sitting back in the car, probably still sulking. Clint was quickly checking Evie’s bandages while the other two were sitting in the shade of the jeep. 

“Road ahead is clear,” Minho said as he walked back around one of the jeeps, “should head off soon.” 

I nodded my head but looked over at Clint who was nearly finished checking Evie over, “just give Clint a minute to finish up.” 

Minho nodded and walked back over to our jeep. I turned my attention back to watching Clint and Evie. He was inspecting each of her injuries and she was asking questions about what he was doing and how it all looked. She had just smiled at something he said when her head shot to the side. It was like she was looking at something, I followed her gaze but I couldn’t see anything.

Her head turned again and it was now going between two spots. Clint looked a little panicked and was asking her what was wrong. I began walking closer. It looked like she was mumbling to herself, she had closed her eyes now but her head was still moving. 

Suddenly she stood up, “we’ve got to go, we’ve got to move. They’re coming.” 

“Who’s coming?” I asked. I couldn’t see anyone. Tommy and Teresa were now standing up, watching her carefully. 

“There’s two trucks,” she said her eyes were closed again. 

“What’s she talking about?” Gally said. He had left the jeep. 

“They’re black, completely black,” she kept talking her eyes still shut. When she mentioned trucks that are completely black a shiver ran up my spin. That sounded exactly like… 

“FEAR,” Evie said before I could finish my train of thought, her eyes were now wide open and she looked scared. 

Now I could see something moving on the horizon, I could make out at least two dots heading our way. 

“Quick everyone get in the cars,” I called and everyone started moving, “Minho!” I called and he simply nodded walking to the back of our Jeep he grabbed a rifle and threw it at me as he made his way to the driver’s seat. 

“Newt get in!” Minho called. I quickly jumped into the passenger side and Minho stepped on the gas. 

“What’s happening?” I heard Teresa yell from the back.

“We could be under attack,” Minho said as the car swerved on the road. 

“Focus on driving,” I called at Minho, “let me focus on the rest.” 

“They’re getting closer,” Tommy called. I quickly wound my window down and pulled myself up out the window, until I was sitting on the door. 

“What the hell are you doing Newt?” Minho yelled from the car but he was muffled by the wind moving past me. I pulled the rifle with me and used the roof of the car to lean on. I looked down the barrel of the gun. It was hard as the car kept swerving. 

I leaned back down and yelled at Minho, “drive straight you stupid shank.” 

I climbed back out the window and once again settled the gun on my arms as I leaned on the roof and looked down the barrel of the gun. The two trucks had pulled closer to us. I aimed the gun and fired. Bang! One of the front tires of the first truck went. I took a deep breath aimed again and Bang! Another wheel went down. The truck now swerved off the road and came to a stop. 

I quickly swapped my sights to the other truck. I followed the same steps; deep breath, aim and Bang! A wheel went. As I was aiming again I noticed the truck was slowing down and stopping. I watched for a while as they grew smaller and smaller in the distance. 

Once both of the trucks were out of sight I pulled the gun back in and climbed back into the car. 

“Woohoo,” Minho said and slapped the wheel, “that’s what I’m talking about! Still got the best shot in the Glade.” 

“Just slim it and drive,” I said as I put the rifle down at my feet and wound the window back up. “You knew they were coming?” I said turning around to look Evie in the eyes. She met my eyes for a second before looking down at her lap but she didn’t say anything. 

“How did you know they were coming? How did you know it was FEAR?” I pressed. Tommy had told Minho and I earlier that she could do this. I just wanted her to tell us. 

“Lyn,” Thomas said gently and she looked up at him, “I think we can trust them.”

Evie looked at me and glanced at Minho who was still driving before she spoke up, “I can feel when people are close by.” 

“Feel it?” Minho cut in, “you described something I couldn’t even see.” 

I kept watching her, as she took a deep breath, “if I close my eyes and concentrate I can sometimes see what’s coming.” 

“Cool,” Minho said, “that’s a useful skill.” 

“But it can have some drawbacks,” Teresa interjected. 

“What do you mean?” I was still watching Evie, who was still looking at me. 

“If she focuses too hard, she can pass out. Sometimes she will get a noise bleed.” 

“Alright, that’s less cool,” Minho said.

“Let’s not tell people about this,” I said still watching her, “we will let Alby, Sonya and Harriet know and then the rest will be a need to know basis.” 

“What about Gally?” Minho asked, “I’m pretty sure he noticed something.” 

“Don’t worry I’ll talk to him,” I said and turned back around in the chair.


	8. EIGHT - LYN

I felt a sigh of relief when Newt turned around and stopped staring at me. I had felt like I was on trial. I didn’t want to be known as the weird girl. I didn’t want to be the reason we weren’t allowed into the Gladers maybe I could talk them into letting just Thomas and Teresa in at least. Those guys deserved to be safe.

For the rest of the drive I kept my eyes closed and reached out with whatever sixth sense I had to make sure no one was nearby. I could hear someone talking next to me, I assumed it was Thomas but I chose to ignore him. I had to keep my concentration, I didn’t want anyone to sneak up on us. 

I had been shocked when Newt had grabbed a rifle and expertly shot out the tires of the other trucks. I didn’t know how long it was but eventually I felt the car begin to slow down and come to a stop. Hoping we were safer now I opened my eyes and relaxed my concentration, focusing more on what was currently around me. 

I still couldn’t see too much, we had pulled into a cave, the only light was coming from the headlights of the jeep and they only illuminated the black cavern and the other Jeep. Up ahead I heard a door slam and could see someone moving around. 

“It’s Gally,” Minho said. 

“Stay here,” Newt said looking at us before together, the two of them got out the Jeep and walked over to him. 

“Seriously what is his problem?” Thomas asked as we watched Gally’s hands flying everywhere. We knew he was yelling because we could hear his voice muffled through the car. 

“Can anyone make out what they’re saying?” Teresa asked, she was leaning forward trying to listen in. 

“No,” Thomas said and started moving forward, “what if they’re talking about what to do to us? Maybe they were never going to take us to their camp.” 

“Don’t be stupid,” I said and slapped him on the arm. Finally, the little circle in between the two cars separated and Newt began to make his way back over to us. The others were walking to the back of the other jeep and began to pull out four back packs. Newt was suddenly beside the car and opening the door next to Teresa.

“Is everything okay?” Thomas asked as the three of us scrambled from the car. 

Newt put a small smile on his face as he answered, “as I’ve probably said a hundred times now, don’t worry about Gally. He can be loud but he wouldn’t risk acting on anything. In order to keep things running smoothly in the Glade, we have rules and if you break one of those there is a punishment. Once you’ve been voted in I’m sure Alby or Harriet will give you a tour of the place and go through everything with you.” 

“Thomas, catch,” Minho called and threw one of the bags at him, “if you join us you’ve got to learn to carry your weight. Besides I can’t give it to the girls, it’s not gentlemanly plus ones injured.” 

“Hurry up,” Gally said walking past us. He kept walking until he was out of the cave. 

“That shank needs to learn to have fun every once in a while,” Minho said but he also began to follow Gally. Clint was close on their heels and then Thomas and Teresa joined them.

“Let’s go,” Newt said and began walking away. I took one last glance around before quickly following after him. I watched as Newt walked out into the blinding sunlight and took a deep breath before I followed him out into the heat. 

Instantly my hand moved up to shield my eyes from the bright light. I stood still for a minute waiting for my eyes to adjust to the sunlight. I took a deep breath as I took in the harsh landscape all around us. The only colours I could see were brown and yellow sand and rocks, there were white dead trees scattered around the place and a bright blue sky above us. The heat in the air was pushing down on me and I could already feel sweat begin to appear on my skin, as the slight warm breeze caused my hair to whip around my face. 

It was so different to the facility I had spent the past year in. The WICKED laboratories had looked sterile. White was everywhere, the only colour had been produced from the machines they used. The rooms had all been kept at a constant temperature. There was never any change. Even looking at the harsh environment that I would now have to survive in, I was still happy that we had escaped WICKED. 

“Hurry up Evie,” called Newt’s familiar voice and I turned around to see the rest of the group climbing up the grey, rocky, mountains the cave was hidden in. One person was nearly at the top of the mountain, that must have been Gally. Clint and Minho were near Thomas and Teresa helping them when necessary, they were still towards the bottom of the mountain and Newt was still at the base. He was watching me and gesturing for me to hurry up. I turned and took one last look around me before I walked towards Newt who was waiting for me. 

“Quite a sight eh,” Newt said smiling when I got close enough. 

“It’s beautiful, in its own way,” I replied and placed one foot on the bottom of the mountain, ready to climb. 

“That it is,” Newt replied and began to climb next to me. 

There wasn’t a lot of time for talking as we climbed. The mountain was quite steep and the heat was an extra factor beating down on us. Newt helped me when I needed it but I did notice he struggled a little as well and realised his leg must be hurting with the climb. Together we kept trudging on. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face, my back felt drenched, my stomach was burning as I had to keep using my core muscles to pull up my weight. Looking down I saw that we were only half way up. I reached forward and grabbed another stone, pulling my weight up, suddenly the stone gave way and I was falling. I felt a squeal leave my throat as I closed my eyes bracing for impact. 

Something gripped my arm and I stopped in mid-air, my body and face slamming into the rock face as the momentum of my fall stopped. I felt some rock dig into my face but I ignored it as I opened my eyes to see Newt had grabbed a hold of my wrist. The look on his face showed he was using a lot of his strength to hold on to me. I tried to grab onto the mountain but I couldn’t find anything to grip onto, I tried to ground my feet but they kept slipping. The muscles in my stomach didn’t want to work and I struggled to hold onto the wall.

“Minho!” he yelled, his face scrunched up in concentration as he called for help. “Minho,” looking back at me he spoke softer but you could hear the struggle as he tried to hold my weight one handed, “I’ve got ya Evie. I won’t let go.” He turned his head and looked away from me, looking back up the mountain and once again he called out for Minho. 

Suddenly Minho was there above Newt, his eyes wide as he took in the scene below him. He reached down and grabbed my upper arm, with both of his hands, I saw his arms flexing and next thing I know I was being pulled through the air until I was back next to Newt. 

“Phew,” Minho exhaled as he pulled me on to a little ledge, a smile lit up his face as he said “close one.”

I stood on the ledge trying to catch my breath, “thank you,” I said looking at Minho. I think I saw a hint of blush on his cheeks as he scratched the back of his neck. I turned to look at Newt who has also just pulled himself on to the little ledge. The moment he was standing I also thanked him. 

“It’s nothing,” he replied, he seemed a little upset but I couldn’t tell why, “it’s just a good thing Minho heard me shouting.” 

“No, it’s a good thing you have such quick reflexes. If you hadn’t caught her, me climbing down wouldn’t have helped at all,” Minho said and clapped him on the back. Newt looked up and he seemed to look a little happier. 

“Still, we’ve got a-ways to go till we reach the top.” 

“Alright,” Minho said, he turned to face the wall, “let’s go,” and he started to climb. 

I took a deep breath and let it out, working on my nerve before I too began to re-climb the mountain. Minho stayed close by and both of them helped me when I stumbled. Finally, we made it to the top. 

“Wow,” I let out in a breath as I took in the sight below me. The grey, rocky, mountains went all around in a circle offering protection to the little camp site below. I was over whelmed by the new colours and smells filling my senses. The camp filled up half of the ground, the other half seemed to be full of plants and animals. There were little wooden buildings built in all different sizes, there was different coloured plants and so many animals, there was even a blue dam towards one of the sides. 

“How does a place like this exist in the middle of a desert?” I said my voice full of wonder. I heard both of them laugh at my reaction. 

“We’re sort of lucky,” Newt began, “When it rains, this area collects water, making it easier to grow vegetation and be more self-sufficient.” 

“It has taken about three years to build it up to this though,” Minho said and began to walk down the mountain. “At the beginning it was like a forest and full of trapped Cranks but slowly we made it more liveable. A lot of hard work has gone into this place, which is why we work so hard to protect it. Alright, you’ll get a tour tomorrow, we’ve still got to climb down.” 

The three of us began to make our way down the mountain. The lower we got the cooler the temperature became and the more the sun’s heat faded. We were nearly to the bottom when we began to hear yelling and fighting. Minho put his hand out, indicating we should stop. Slowly he began to approach, moving around a boulder, Newt and I slowly followed behind him. 

The moment he stepped around the boulder his arm dropped and he began to yell. 

“What the shuck!” Minho vanished from our sight and I began to hear pushing and shoving. Newt pushed me behind him and the two of us walked around. What I saw stopped me dead. 

Teresa and Thomas were standing, facing the wall with their hands behind their heads. Behind them were people holding wooden spears pressed against their backs. 

“There’s the other one,” said a voice I recognised as Gally. Suddenly a massive guy started making his way towards me. 

“What’s going on here?” Newt called while pushing me behind him. I caught a glimpse of Minho being held back by two people as he continued to struggle. 

“Alby,” Newt called again, “What the shuck is happening?” 

“Grab the girl,” said a tall black boy, he looked like the oldest person here but not by much. 

Newt kept me behind him, “why?” 

“Are you questioning me, Newt?” he yelled. 

“What the shuck is wrong with you?” 

“What the shuck is wrong with you?” Alby yelled walking forward and grabbing Newt he practically threw him out the way. Two other strangers grabbed Newt and then the guy called Alby grabbed me by the hair. I kept struggling trying to get him off of me when I was thrown into the wall next to Thomas and hit my head. I fell to the ground. My vision had gone cloudy and black. 

“Take them to the Slammer,” said the voice belonging to Alby. 

Someone grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet causing my head to feel dizzy and faint. I could hear yelling, it sounded like Newt and Minho maybe even Clint. I felt someone poke me in the back with one of those spears and then we were shoved and poked until we began to get marched off in some unknown direction. 

I shot a look back over my shoulder trying to see Newt or Minho but my vision was too blurry.


	9. NINE - NEWT

I watched as the three greenies were herded off towards the slammer. Evie looked back at us and I could see the worry in her eyes before she looked forward and followed the others. Gally looked at me with a triumphant grin and I knew he had already talked to Alby about what had happened out in the Scorch. I turned and shot Minho a worried glance, he had pulled himself free and had his arms folded over his chest and if looks could kill, Gally would be on the floor. 

“What the hell Alby,” Clint called, “one of them is injured, they shouldn’t be sent to the slammer.” He quickly took off after the greenies calling out to Ben as he went. 

I pulled myself out of Adam and Jeff’s grip and made to follow Clint as he ran after the greenies. Alby was suddenly in front of me. He was trying to look intimidating but I was taller than him and beyond mad.

“What the shuck happened out there?” Alby questioned, his own arms crossed over his body, his deep brown eyes almost looked black as he glared at me. “Why have you brought these WICKED spies with you?” 

At that I heard Minho laugh and instantly worried about what he would say, “what WICKED spies? All I see is three scared greenies who wouldn’t survive much longer in the Scorch by themselves.” 

“You should have left them out there,” Alby yelled, surprising us all. 

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” said a new familiar voice. My sister Sonya was walking down the path her eyes were curious as she took in everyone’s appearance and aggression. 

“Stay out of this Sonya,” Alby said turning to her, “you don’t know what’s going on.” 

Sonya walked forward stopping between Alby and me, “you’re right. I don’t know what’s going on but I do know, I just saw three people, that I’ve never seen before being paraded through the middle of the camp and thrown in to the slammer. The other Glader’s are talking, so, I think you need to explain it to me.” 

“Me too,” said another voice and I turned to see Harriet walking up the path, her face looked furious. Now that Harriet was here I knew things would calm down. Alby and Harriet were both leaders of this camp, they were in charge of different aspects, but anything that involved the protection of the Glade was a problem for both of them.

The Glader’s had been the joining of two separate groups one Alby and I were in charge of and the other group was run by Harriet. When we joined the groups together it was decided that they would both be the leaders. 

“Let’s move this to a quieter place,” I said looking around at other people gathering around trying to listen in. Alby looked like he was ready to argue but after glancing around he took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face. 

“Let’s go to the Keeper Hall,” Harriet said and before anyone could argue with her she turned and began to walk away. Alby turned to walk after her, Gally quickly followed. I could tell he didn’t want to be left with Minho and me. Minho walked over to me, his arms were still crossed and he looked made. 

“That shucking shank,” he said, “I swear if he says one thing I’m going to snap him like a stick.” 

“Calm down,” Sonya said chuckling lightly at Minho’s antics, looking up at both of us she continued, “what on earth is going on? This is not what I expected to see when you returned. Who were those people?” 

“They’re just some Greenies I found in the scorch,” Minho said brushing over about a million details. 

“Come on you two,” I said and began walking towards the Keeper Hall, “they won’t wait forever.” 

The three of us made our way down the dirt pathway, towards the middle of the camp. The middle of the camp was signified by the big fire pit we had, it was where we would get together to celebrate or make a declaration. We had built everything around it like a circle, one side was mostly taken up by little huts in which people lived while the other side was made up of a cafeteria area, a med-jack clinic and the runners building. We had built the barn closer to the animals, in the hopes that it would keep the smell further away. 

As we walked I noticed curious glances from the other Gladers, all curious about what is happening. I glanced over towards the slammer and saw a small group of huddled nearby one of the cells they were all whispering amongst each other. I suppose it was big news, the last person we had accepted into the Glade was about a year ago and that had been one young boy I had found hiding under a bed when I was on a run. 

Looking around I noticed that boy, Chuck, was standing nearby as well, trying to get a look at the new comers. He probably knew exactly what they were going through, of course one big difference was he had never been thrown in the slammer. 

It didn’t take long to arrive at the Keeper Hall, it was one of the biggest buildings in the Glade. Each branch of Keepers had their own room and it also housed the Gathering area, where all important meetings were held. We walked into the wooden building and continued to the Gathering area, Sonya walked through first and held the door open for Minho and me.

The room didn’t contain much it was essentially a room full of chairs. The chairs were placed in a circle, normally the person on trial would sit in the middle of the circle surrounded by the Keepers. Alby and Harriet normally sat at the top of the circle, I would be next to Alby as second in command and Sonya who was Harriet’s second in command would sit beside her. 

Today however when we entered the three of us found seats on the opposite side of the circle from Alby and Gally. Harriet was standing in the middle looking at each side. I heard her let out a side of annoyance, she didn’t like to see us like this. 

“Okay would someone like to tell me who those greenies are?” she said in a calm tone, her brown eyes observing each of us. 

Gally stood up and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he said, “They’re spies from WICKED. It’s even tattooed on their skin.” 

“Slim it Gally,” Minho said shooting him a deadly look, “that’s not what it says.”

“Who found them?” Harriet interjected. That was Harriet, straight to business. 

“Minho,” I said looking from Harriet to him. 

“Alright, Minho you talk,” she gestured at him, “tell me everything that happened.” 

Harriet sat down in her normal chair at the top of the circle and Minho began to talk. He told us how he found them in an abandoned shop in section 8 and that they were being attacked by a Crank. How he helped then and decided to take them back to the bunker, the conversation we had with Teresa and Thomas that night. He also mentioned his observations of Evie and our conversation with Thomas earlier that morning. I kind of hoped he would have left that bit out as at this Gally and Alby both started frowning neither one looking too happy. 

Gally had been about to interrupt several times but a quick look from Harriet had him holding his tongue. Minho told them about our encounter with FEAR and how it was Evie’s warning that helped us get away. 

“And finally,” he said, “we arrived at the Glade where you shanks decided to attack them and throw them in the Slammer,” finishing his story, he shot both Gally and Alby an angry glare before leaning back into his chair. 

“If they are from WICKED they can’t be trusted,” Alby said the moment Minho had stopped talking. 

“So, what if they’re from WICKED!” Sonya yelled beside me, “they didn’t run the building, they were prisoners, test subjects, held against their will. They finally had enough will power and courage to escape and you go and attack them, not a very smart move.” I know Sonya had strong feelings against WICKED, a few years ago when we were out in the Scorch WICKED had showed up and tried to grab her. If there hadn’t been so many of us around at the time Sonya might have been taken. I reached over and grabbed her hand. 

“What makes you so sure they are WICKED spies?” Harriet asked keeping her clam, “and I mean besides the tattoos. They prove nothing. Have you noticed them doing anything suspicious?”

It was then Gally spoke up, “of course they are suspicious. No one escapes from WICKED. Not to mention that girl Evelyn has some freaky ability that allows her to sense when people are coming. For all we know WICKED did something to her brain and are tracking them all right now.” 

“I don’t think that’s the case,” I said speaking up after Gally’s outpour of conspiracy theories. 

“What don’t you think is the case?” Harriet asked, her eyes settling on me.

“As Minho said, we had a conversation with Thomas. Thomas told us that Evie was the newest person to arrive at WICKED and of course her mind had been wiped clean so she had no memories of her past. Thomas seemed to think that Evie might have been held at another group before she was taken by WICKED. On one of her wrists is a barcode tattoo, we think it could have been something they used to catalogue her. Thomas thinks she had the ability to sense things before she arrived at WICKED. It’s possible the group who had her before did something.” 

“Isn’t that worse then?” Alby said standing up from where he was seated, anger pouring off of him in waves “it’s not just WICKED after her, it’s some other group too.” 

I couldn’t stand it anymore, it felt like they he had forgotten why we created the Glade in the first place. “Isn’t the point of the Glade to find some place safe. A place where you can belong.” I said letting go of Sonya’s hand and standing up to face Alby’s rage. “We have all come from different backgrounds. We have all done things to survive that we wish we didn’t have too. So, far, these three greenies haven’t done anything wrong. They have been trapped in WICKED with no memories of the outside world, the least we could do is offer them some safety.” 

“In my eyes they have already proved themselves,” Minho said standing up beside me, “They survived the scorch for three days on their own, some of the people in the Glade couldn’t survive the scorch for one hour.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Harriet said and everyone turned to look at her. “From what you have said it makes sense to hold a gathering and have all the Keeper vote about their future. This isn’t something we can just decide on our own.” She then turned and shot both Alby and Gally a heated look, “besides they are here now, they know the way, since they have been paraded through the camp people have become interested in them. We can’t make them just vanish. I don’t think they mean us harm but as I said earlier it is up to all the Keepers to make a decision.”

Silence fell throughout the room and then all hell broke out with both Gally and Alby arguing against Harriet’s reasoning, Minho and Sonya began to argue back. It was quite a sight to see. I watched as Harriet’s face became down right fierce. 

“Enough,” Harriet yelled over the top of them, “we will have a gathering tomorrow morning both of you will be able to put your points of view forward but at the moment you are outvoted 4 to 2 so the decision has been made. They will stay the night and tomorrow we will decide their fate.” With that said she walked out the room. Silence stayed in her wake. 

It was Alby who broke it first, “they will spend the night in the slammer,” and then he walked out, Gally close on his heels, the door slammed behind them. 

I turned to look at Minho and Sonya. 

“At least we sort of won,” Minho said and clapped my shoulder before walking out the door. It was true we had sort of won, we brought them one definite night in the Glade but it was to be spent in the Slammer. 

“I guess I have to tell them the news,” I said to Sonya, who had placed her hand on my arm to try and offer comfort. “This isn’t what I expected to happen.” 

“I know,” Sonya said her voice full of sympathy until all of a sudden, a grin appeared on her face, “introduce me to them.” 

I let out a small chuckle as I wrapped one of my arms around her, “come on,” I said as I lead her to the exit.


	10. TEN - LYN

I looked around at all the unfamiliar faces staring at me and felt a million butterflies take flight in my stomach. The three of us had been thrown in a crude cell. It was a ditch that had been dug into the dirt, there were some wooden pillars and a roof to help make it more stable but it made me feel like I was underground. The top of the ditch was covered in wooden bars tied together with rope and twine. It felt like we had been thrown in jail, which I guess we had been. 

People were standing around staring at us and whispering. I backed away until I felt a pillar hit my back, it was scary being watched by unknown people, it made me feel like I was back at WICKED. Clint had been with us until a few minutes ago, arguing for us to be left alone or at least taken to the med-jack building, whatever that was. But the big guy Ben, who seemed to be in charge of the spear holders, had told him he was just following Alby’s orders. The spear holders threw us in the ditch, tied up the door behind us and then took off. We were left alone.

“What the hell is happening?” Teresa said, I could detect fear in her voice as she rubbed her head worryingly. 

“I don’t know,” Thomas mumbled from his position at the front of the cell. He was looking out of the hole and I could see the cogs turning in his head, he was trying to work on an escape route. He reached forward and began tugging on the wood, trying to find a weak spot. 

“Don’t,” I said as he reached forward to grab another one. 

“Don’t?” he turned to look at me, his expression was bewildered, “in case you hadn’t noticed Lyn, they have thrown us in freakin’ prison!” I flinched when he yelled, noticing my reaction he lowered his voice but he didn’t stop talking, “I’m not going to sit here and rot. I’m going to get us out. Maybe we can steal one of those cars and get out of here. Shouldn’t be too hard to learn how to drive.” He turned away and began to reach for the wood again. 

I walked forward and pulled his arm back. He gave me a sour look but I interrupted before he could yell at me, “I said stop because there are loads of people walking around, watching us. If we suddenly break out, everyone will know. At the moment we’ve got to wait, at least until they’re asleep or something.” 

“She’s right Tom,” Teresa said walking up to his other side, “we need to plan this carefully.” Thomas dropped his arms but he didn’t look happy about it. 

“I know you’re right,” Thomas said sighing, “but I can’t just do nothing,” he walked off to sit on the ground. 

“I know it’s hard but we need to plan our escape before we can put it into action,” Teresa said, sitting down next to him. 

I moved to sit on the other side of Thomas and rested my head on his shoulder. I knew he was feeling guilty about getting us in this mess but he didn’t, we didn’t have to follow him out here. Once we were outside of WICKED we could have all separated. It was our choice to stay together. 

The three of us sat there in comfortable silence, offering each other a little bit of strength. Suddenly there was commotion outside, we heard a familiar voice yelling. 

“What are you shanks, standing about for?” Newt’s voice carried over to us, “you lot have jobs to do, go do ‘em.” We could hear footsteps getting closer. I knew someone else was with Newt, I knew it was someone I had never meet before as I couldn’t identify a colour with them. 

A shadow fell over the top of the ditch and I looked up to see Newt’s familiar face and blonde hair sitting above us. 

“Alright there, you three?” Newt asked. I could tell by his tone he wasn’t happy.

“Been better,” Thomas grumbled but he met Newt’s eyes, a sign that he wasn’t angry at the blond boy. 

Next to Newt a new face appeared. Her face seemed happy, her lips pulled into a smile. Her blond hair was falling forward around her face, framing her dark brown eyes. I remember Newt had mentioned he had a sister and knew instantly that this must be her. I think he also mentioned her name but I couldn’t recall, did it have something to do with the sun, like Sunny or something? 

“I am really sorry that this has happened,” Newt continued ignoring the girl sitting next to him. 

“What was all that about anyway?” Thomas said, “we’re not WICKED spies.” 

“I know,” Newt said and sighed, resting an arm on the wooden bars, “Gally had given Alby an earful of conspiracy theories.” 

“Wait isn’t this Alby, your leader?” Teresa said sitting up straighter, “does this mean we’re not allowed to stay?” 

“Not at all,” Newt’s sister said, her voice appeared kind and caring, “Harriet and I intervened. We’re leaders too.” 

Newt ignored his sister and began to explain what happened, “we managed to convince Harriet and Sonya,” he shot the girl next to him a look, her name must be Sonya. I was sort of close with Sunny. “that you guys are okay. They decided tomorrow we will hold a gathering and have all the Keepers vote if you can stay or not.” 

“Unfortunately,” Sonya said looking a little upset, “Alby said you guys will have to spend the night in here. He still doesn’t trust you, but that’s okay, because it’s not just his decision at the gathering tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll be voted in.” 

“What’s a gathering?” Thomas asked and once again I could see the intelligence in his eyes. 

“Whenever we have a big problem we call a gathering, it’s a bit like a trial. Harriet and Alby are the judge and help keep order, the Keepers are like the jury, they listen to everything, give their opinion about what to do and then we vote.” Sonya replied, Newt shot her another glance. He looked annoyed at being constantly interrupted. 

“And the Keepers are?” Thomas asked. 

“They’re like the head of different jobs,” Sonya said once again speaking over the top of Newt. 

“Who are the Keepers?” Teresa asked, looking between the two siblings. 

“Well you know Minho,” Newt said, “he is the Keeper of the Runners. Clint’s the Keeper of the Med-jacks, Gally’s the Keeper of the builders and there are others but you don’t know them. There are about ten Keepers in total and each one will get a vote.” 

“Plus, there’s us. So that’s fourteen in total,” Sonya added. 

“Are you guys not Keepers?” I asked intrigued by their system. 

“No, we’re leaders,” Sonya said looking proud.

“I thought Alby and Harriet were the leaders,” Thomas questioned. 

“Newt and I are the second in command,” Sonya announced. “When Harriet and Alby aren’t around or can’t be found, people come to us for help. Harriet and I are in charge of the domestic issues in the Glade while Alby and Newt take charge of the more international issues.” 

“International issues?” Newt said turning to her and raising an eyebrow. 

“You know what I mean, issues that lie outside the Glade,” Sonya said slapping Newt on the shoulder and rolling her eyes. “Protecting the Glade is a really important matter which means all four of us will come together to make a decision but when it’s something really important, like letting new people into the Glade we call a gathering.” 

“It’s a good system,” Thomas said nodding his head in approval. 

“It took ages to formalise it,” Sonya said, she seemed eager to answer any question, “at first there were a lot of dramas but since we’ve put this into practice the Glade has run a lot more smoothly.” 

Sonya was just about to open her mouth to speak again when all of a sudden there was a loud noise erupting from somewhere within the camp. I watched as both Newt and Sonya’s heads turned in a direction. I could hear people yelling and screaming. 

“What was that?” Thomas said, he had stood up and was trying to peer around the corner. 

“I don’t know,” Newt murmured, his eyes still searching the distance looking for what had made the noise. 

“Is that Ben?” Sonya said pointing into the distance. Ben had been the guy who had thrown us into the slammer. 

“Oh no,” Newt said and within a minute he was up and running out of sight. 

Sonya seemed upset and sighed as she watched her brother run away.

“What is it?” Thomas asked still trying to look out of the cell bars, “what’s happening?” 

“It’s Ben,” Sonya replied, turning sad eyes back towards us, “it looks like he is infected.” 

“Infected by what?” Teresa asked, she hadn’t moved from her place on the floor.

“The Flare,” Sonya said, “his got the Flare.”


	11. ELEVEN - NEWT

I looked up at the sudden onset of noise. It had come from the other side of the fire pit. The other side of the Glade. I couldn’t make out what was happening as people all began to gather around blocking my view. 

“What was that?” I heard Tommy ask from down below in the Slammer. 

“I don’t know,” I replied but I wasn’t paying too much attention to him. People had begun to run away from that side of the camp. What the shuck was going on? 

As people began to clear I could just begin to make it out. It was Ben, he was walking around erratically, swaying from side to side. He leaned over and began to cough, what looked like black sludge flowed from his mouth. 

“Oh no,” I muttered and squeezed Sonya’s shoulder, a sign that she should stay there, as I took off. I began to run in the direction of Ben, pushing people out of the way and telling them to get back. I noticed Alby was also making his way towards Ben, while Gally and Minho were there holding people back and telling them to stay back. 

No one knew how the Flare spread but I suspected it was air-borne by now as Ben wasn’t the first person to come down with it. It’s only a matter of time before everyone gets affected, unless of course they were immune. 

“Ben,” I said when I got close enough for him to hear me. I had stopped running and approached him slowly, with my arms up, like he was a scared animal. He had fallen to the ground, sitting on his knees, he looked defeated. His white blond hair was going in every direction, his pale skin was marred by black veins his blue eyes looked bloodshot. His face showed how scared he was. He knew what was happening. 

The Flare didn’t spread to this stage so quickly, it would normally start with small flares of temper and feeling a little woozy, he would have had a few days before these symptoms showed up. Which means he knew he was sick a few days ago but he didn’t say anything. 

“No, it’s not happening,” he said and kept mumbling it under his breath like a mantra. 

“Ben,” Alby said his voice sounded strong but he approached Ben just like I had, “Ben, look at me.”  
Ben looked up at Alby and I could see unshed tears in his eyes, “I’ll get better,” he said softly, “I can get better,” he yelled looking at both Alby and me. 

“You know that’s not how this disease works,” Alby said in his deep calm voice, speaking as one would a spooked child. 

“I know I can, please,” Ben begged, tears finally falling from his eyes. I didn’t want to watch as Ben begged for his life but I didn’t look away. 

“Newt,” Alby said. I nodded and moved towards the med-jack clinic, I knew what we needed.  
I knew I made a mistake the moment I turned my back on Ben. Shouts erupted from all around me as something hit me in the back. I fell to the ground and felt a weight on top of me. Ben was on me, grabbing me, trying to restrain me from going to the med-jack. He knew what was going to happen, having helped in cases before.

I managed to turn around in his grip and fought to hold him off as other hands joined the struggle. Minho, Gally and Alby struggled to hold him off me, the disease already taking a hold of his brain, inducing bouts of anger and violence. Someone else joined the fray, something silver glittering in their hand before a needle was plunged into Ben’s back.  
Ben’s frantic grabbing and shoving slowed until he was motionless. Minho, Alby and Gally hurled his body off of me, throwing him on the floor. Aris stood there, the syringe still in his hand, he looked a little wide eyed but he had done well. 

“You okay Newt?” he asked in a high voice, he quickly cleared his throat. 

“I’m good, thank you,” I said still lying on the floor. 

“Newt,” Minho said pulling me to my feet, “you all good? Nothing hurt?” he began to inspect me, circling me, his eyes raking up and down my body looking for injuries. 

“I’m fine,” I said and pushed him away, “just a little surprised.” 

“I’m not,” Minho said and shot Ben a dirty look, “that shank knew he was infected. He has to be at least at stage two with those symptoms. He has been hiding it at least for a couple of days.” 

“Well his out now,” Alby said walking over, he looked me up and down doing his own self-assessment before nodding his head in approval. We stood around for a few minutes, not saying anything, none of us wanted to proceed with what had to happen next. 

“Alright let’s get on with it,” I said breaking the silence. It needed to be done. I always hated this moment. When someone was infected we would, drug them, load them in the jeep and drop them somewhere in the middle of the Scorch. The other option would be to kill them here and none of us really liked that option, so we made the decision to drop them in the Scorch. Knowing full well that no one survived out there for long by themselves. 

Gally grabbed Ben’s legs and Minho grabbed his arms, together the two of them began to make their way towards the entrance of the Glade. 

Alby stood by me in silence for a while before he spoke, “it’s nearly night.” 

“I know,” I replied dusting the sand off my hands while looking after Minho and Gally making their way through the camp with Ben’s limp body dangling between them. 

“Take Aris with you,” Alby said finally. I shot him a quick look before looking at Aris in the distance hugging Sonya. I was just about to argue when cut me off, “it will be better to have more people. Ben is further along than anyone else we’ve banished, who knows what will happen in the car.” 

I knew I couldn’t argue with his logic but I did want to argue about the person he chose. Aris was a great guy and I approved of him dating my sister and occasionally, like just now, he performed well under pressure. But there was something about him that made me think innocent and young. Maybe I just wanted to keep him that way because he was dating my sister and I often thought of him as a younger brother. I also didn’t want to be the person to tell my sister that something had happened to him while we were out there. 

“Don’t even think of arguing with me,” Alby spoke interrupting my thought process, “you need to head off soon. I want you all back before midnight.” With that said Alby turned and walked off. 

I sighed and walked over to where Sonya and Aris were talking. Sonya noticed me approaching and broke away from Aris, meeting me half way. 

“Aris did great, didn’t he,” Sonya said excitedly. 

“What, you had no concern for your big brother’s safety,” I joked opening my arms. 

“Of course, I did,” she said throwing her arms around me, “you are okay right? No cuts or bruises.” 

“I’m fine,” I said laughing and letting her go. Aris was standing just behind Sonya giving us some space. I nodded at him and he walked closer. 

“Aris,” I said looking at him over the top of Sonya’s head. “Alby has asked that you help us drop Ben off in the Scorch. Ben is further gone than the other people we have dealt with so we don’t know how he is going to respond to the anaesthetic. Hopefully he stays out the whole way but just in case we are going to grab some more from Clint and after your demonstration earlier it’s clear you know what to do.”

“Yeah, sure,” Aris said sounding excited. He had been asking to come on runs for a while but had been continually knocked down. Maybe that was why Alby had wanted us to bring him. This was far less dangerous than a run. 

“Alright, meet me by the wall in ten minutes,” I said and left the two of them behind me. I had just caught sight of a hand waving through the bars of the slammer and since there was only three people in there I knew who it was. 

Sure, enough as I walked closer to the cell, I could make out that it was Tommy standing under the bars waving his hand. 

“What happened?” he said the moment he saw my face. Evie and Teresa were sitting on the floor but both looked up as he spoke. “Sonya said some guy called Ben was infected by the Flare. Then she cried out your name and then ran off. You okay?” 

“Don’t worry, I’m okay. There was a slight incident but it’s all be handled,” I said trying not to freak them out. 

“What’s going to happen to Ben?” Evie asked. I looked at her and saw that she looked pale. She had hit her head earlier I wonder if she was okay. 

“We’re going to take him somewhere and drop him off,” I said and felt guilty. It sounded so blasé. It was a part of the world that I hated but it was necessary in order for the rest of us to survive. “We’re leaving soon but we will be back by tonight. I will leave word with one of the Gladers to look after you but I’m sure Sonya will keep her eye on you.” 

I turned to look over my shoulder and saw just the boy I wanted to talk to. Chuck was one of the youngest in the Glader’s and the latest member. He was still a bit of an outcast with people looking down on his age. Most people didn’t give him the time of day but he was an extremely chatty and friendly boy and one that I trusted to look after these new greenies. I knew he would love this new responsibility. 

“Chuck,” I called out and gestured for him to come over, “these three greenies are being voted into the Glade tomorrow.” 

“Awesome,” Chuck said his chubby face lighting up.

“I’m going out of the Glade,” I continued ignoring his interruption, “can you make sure they get dinner and are looked after tonight.”

“Sure thing, Newt,” Chuck said smiling, “leave it to me.” 

“Good that.” I said smiling back at him, I turned back to the three greenies in the slammer, “I’ll see you guys later.” I walked off and left them with Chuck, I could already hear him chatting to them. He was such a likeable boy. 

Happy that I was at least leaving the greenies with someone to look after them, I turned and made my way towards the entrance of the Glade, meeting Aris there. He had been given two more needles by Clint in case Ben woke up.

Quickly the two of us started to climb over the mountain and meet Minho and Gally at the jeep. 

We drove in silence, this wasn’t the type of job where you talked and cracked a joke. Even Minho was subdued. It was a solemn occasion, we were essentially leading someone to their death. Ben had been a part of the Gladers for three years and before that he had travelled with Harriet. I had caught a quick glimpse of her just before I left, Alby had his arms wrapped around her, her head was resting on his chest. She looked quite upset by the unexpected turn of events. 

It didn’t feel like we had been driving that long before we reached our destination, the middle of nowhere. We had decided to drop Ben off at the start of section one, it was an area he wasn’t familiar with. Quickly we pulled him from the back seat, left him on the ground, threw a blanket over him, hopped back in the car and drove off. No one looked back. 

It was just after midnight when we arrived back in the Glade and I was beyond tired. I hadn’t slept all that good in the chair last night so there was nothing I wanted more than to get to my hut and collapse but before I could do that I made a quick stop by the slammer. The three of them were asleep, it seemed someone had been nice enough to give them a blanket each. 

Knowing that they were okay, at least for another night, I made my way towards the buildings we lived in, I had my own hut right next door to Minho’s. I wanted nothing more than to enter my hut and go to sleep but I knew there was something I needed to tell Minho first. 

I knocked on his door and it wasn’t long before he opened it, he was in the process of getting ready for bed. He had taken off his shoes and shirt and was just wearing some black sweat pants. 

“Newt,” Minho mumbled, “what the shuck man. Go to bed, we’ll talk tomorrow.” 

“It’s important,” I said and put my arm up to stop him from closing the door. 

Minho seemed to be a little more alert as he nodded his head and let me in. 

“What’s up?” he said sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Ben got me,” I replied. 

Minho’s eyes were now wide open, “what do you mean he got you?”

I raised my arm and pulled up my sleeve, along the bottom of my arm were four perfect halfmoons cut into my skin by Ben’s nails. Deep enough to draw blood. 

“I could be infected,” I said pulling my sleeve back down over my arm. 

“No,” Minho said shaking his head, he had now stood up and began to pace. “It’s nothing Newt. There’s no proof that it spreads that way. For all we know it’s airborne meaning we’re all infected.” 

“What if it does mean I’m infected?” 

“You’re not!” Minho yelled, he quickly caught himself and lowered his voice, “it might not work that way. We will simply watch you. Keep an eye on you, if you are infected we will notice.” 

“I should tell Alby and Harriet tomorrow at the gathering.” 

“Are you crazy!?” he yelled again. 

“Be quiet would you!” I whispered at him, “of course I should tell them, they need to know.” 

“There might not be anything to know,” Minho said walking in front of me and grabbing my arms, he began shaking me, “we won’t tell anyone. Only the two of us will know about this. The moment you show any symptom I will tell them but until that moment we will say nothing. I mean it could be nothing.” 

I nodded my head, it made sense. 

“Newt promise me you won’t tell them anything.” 

I nodded my head again. 

“Promise me,” he shook me again. 

“I promise,” I said and pushed his arms off of me. 

“Okay,” Minho said nodding his head, “now off to bed with you. We’ve had a busy day and could do with some shut eye.” 

I nodded again, “Thanks Minho,” I said as I left his hut. I walked next door to my own. I opened the wooden door and fell down on my soft bed. I was so tired I didn’t even remember hitting the mattress.


	12. TWELVE - LYN

It had been early morning when the three of us were woken up in the slammer. We didn’t recognise the person who came to collect us. Her face was stern, her skin tan, her brown hair was in dreadlocks and pulled back to keep it out of her face. She looked tough. 

“Up you get greenies,” she said, watching us as we stirred, “it’s decision day.” 

As the three of us began to pull ourselves off the ground and stand up, she opened the door. I had hoped Newt or Minho or even Sonya would come and get us, offer us some encouragement before we went to the vote. Thomas pulled himself out of the ditch first and then helped Teresa and I, it felt so good to be out of the hole we had spent the night in. 

It was early morning and the camp was still silent, the sky looked light but you couldn’t see the sun, it hadn’t risen that high yet. The air had a cool breeze to it and I shivered. I finally looked around the camp, the slammer was off to the side of a big building, there were other buildings scattered around the place and a fire pit in the middle of a clearing.  
I didn’t have long to look around before the three of us were being shepherd towards one of the biggest buildings in the camp. It was made completely of wood and rope, there were some other materials thrown in as well, it seemed a little unstable but still it was standing.

“Welcome to the Keeper Hall,” the unknown girl said, as she opened the door and walked through. All of us quickly followed. We had walked into a hallway and the inside of the building was just as plain as the outside. There was nothing there, no furniture, no decorations, just and endless stream of doorways, some had doors but most didn’t. The girl kept walking, she turned and entered through a doorway on the right side of the building. 

Thomas looked at us before entering the room first, Teresa followed after him, I took a deep breath before walking through too. 

I froze as we entered the room, there was a massive circle of chairs, with three in the middle. I guess I knew where we were going to sit. The girl with the dreadlocks kept ushering us inside until we were sitting in the middle of the circle. Looking around I saw many people I didn’t know, all their expressions showed some sort of interest in us, whether it was good or bad I couldn’t tell you. 

I looked in front of me and was upset to see Alby sitting their glaring at me, Newt was beside him rubbing his arm, looking worried. He looked up and caught me staring, as our eyes met he offered me a little encouraging smile.

The girl with the dreadlocks sat in the chair besides Alby’s and I realised she must have been Harriet the other leader, Sonya was by her side offering smiles to all of us. She had spent a lot of the night talking to us and Chuck, it had felt nice and if I hadn’t been in a ditch it might have even been one of my best memories. 

I couldn’t see Minho but I could sense that he was there towards the back of the circle, he was facing Thomas. I could also sense Clint nearby as well, I closed my eyes and reached out with my weird sixth sense, I saw that he was on the other side of the circle facing Teresa. 

The other familiar sense was Gally, I could sense him next to Minho and I didn’t need to look to know that he was most probably scowling at us, with his arms crossed.  
It was interesting, as I had slowly interacted with these people my ability to sense them and know that it was them was getting better. I could recognise Newt by the orange tint of colour, Clint’s colour appeared green maybe because he practiced medicine. Minho was a darker shade of blue than Thomas and I couldn’t really work out why both of them were shades of blue. Whenever I sensed Gally I got the colour black, it must be because so far, all our interactions have been negative. 

“Slim it,” Alby called and I re-opened my eyes and looked around the room. It was the first time I had really been surrounded by so many people. It was interesting to see how this ability worked and what it could do but now was not the time to experiment. 

When everyone stopped talking and had quietened down Alby began to talk again. 

“We have called this gathering today to discuss whether these three greenies be allowed to join the Gladers. These three greenies were found in the Scorch yesterday by Minho, who was on a run. They were fighting a Crank, he helped them and brought them back to the bunker with him. While Minho’s actions were heroic, it has now been discovered that the three of them have escaped from WICKED.” 

At this statement more talking began. I couldn’t tell what anyone was saying as it all built upon each other until it was senseless noise. 

“Slim it,” Alby called again. 

“Another discovery is that the one called Lyn,” he pointed at me and I shrunk back against the chair, I felt everyone’s eyes turn to me, “is possibly from another group. One that experimented on her and gave her the ability to sense things. Yesterday she managed to warn the runners of two FEAR trucks before they even came into view. Of course, since Lyn has been to WICKED she has no memory of the first group, or if they want her back. Each of you will be able to question the greenies and put forth your opinion on whether we should let them into the Glade or not, once we have come full circle we will vote.” With that said Alby returned to his seat.

Newt stood up, “We will start with you, Frypan, Keeper of the cooks.” 

Newt sat back down after making his announcement and a black boy sitting next to Sonya stood up. This boy looked older, probably around the same age as Newt and Minho, his black hair was styled in a buzz cut and he had deep chocolate brown eyes, he was dressed in a white shirt and brown cargo pants and over the top was a white apron with a couple of stains. It was obvious the boy belonged in the kitchen and if his name was Frypan it was a little humorous that he was a chef.

“Okay, well I think we should let them join the Gladers.” At this statement people started to talk again. 

“Slim it,” Alby yelled from his seat, “you will all be able to put forth your views and you will listen to each other. If you start talking again I will throw you out.” Silence fell throughout the room. 

“Fry continue,” Newt spoke up when the Keeper kept silent. 

“Yeah,” he said and his eyes darted around the three of us on the chairs, looking us each up and down, “they don’t look dangerous. They seriously have some skills if they could escape from WICKED and survive in the Scorch. I think it would be better to have them on our side than on someone else’s.” He stopped speaking and looked around the room. 

“What’s your official recommendation?” Newt asked, he had a notebook open, pencil poised ready to write. 

“Let them join,” Frypan said and sat back down in his chair. 

Newt nodded and scribbled in his book before looking up, “Charlotte, Keeper of the Sloppers, what’s your opinion.” Newt said and rolled his eyes, it was as though he didn’t like the formality of it all. It looked like he wished this was over already. 

The girl next to Frypan stood up. She looked very plain, she was pale, her hair was long, mousy blond and dead straight, falling in front of her face. She was dressed in a blue tank top with a white cotton long sleeved shirt over the top, there were a couple of stains on her shirt and her black cargo pants didn’t look too clean as well. Looking at her I had no idea what type of job a Slopper was but it looked messy, or she had no sense of hygiene. 

“I don’t know,” she said, her hair stayed in front of her face, obstructing it from view, as she kept looking at the ground. 

“Do you have an official recommendation?” Newt asked. She shook her head and sat back down. 

“Right,” Newt said and wrote something on his notebook, “that was helpful. Alright next up is Winston, Keeper of the Slicers.” 

Another boy stood up, this boy looked thin and wiry, his tanned skin indicated a middle eastern heritage, his black hair was styled long on top, with the sides shorter. The clothes he wore looked like they were hanging off his body, it would seem funny but when you looked into his eyes, there seemed to be a fire burning there, it almost made him look scary. What took away from his scary appearance was the acne covering his face, making him look more like a teenage boy. 

“I think they are dangerous,” he said and my heart sank, “if they’re from WICKED who knows what could happen, especially if one of them has some freaky ability. She definitely shouldn’t be allowed in.” 

It hurt to be singled out and called freaky but if it meant the others got to stay I would be okay with it. 

“What’s your recommendation?” Newt said with a bite to his voice. A quick glance at him showed he didn’t look happy with the acne covered Keeper. 

“All of them get thrown out,” he said and sat back down. I didn’t need to look to know Gally was smiling behind me. 

Newt scribbled what Winston said into his notebook before looking at the next person in the circle, “Katrina, Keeper of the Machina, what do you think.” 

When Newt had finished speaking a really tall girl stood up, she did not look impressed. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail, there was something black smudged on her check, her white tank top was also covered in black smudges and it looked like she had a blue jumpsuit on with the sleeves wrapped around her waist like a belt. I was beginning to think being a Machina had something to do with grease. 

“I think this whole thing is ridiculous,” you could hear the disdain in her voice and I began to feel worried about what she was going to say. “We shouldn’t even be holding a gathering, if people need help, we offer it. That’s what we decided when we joined together, three years ago. The rules don’t change just because you were with another group. I was once a part of The Wild Ones but when I got left behind on a run you had no hesitation letting me in. Just because they were once the property of WICKED doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same chance as me. I recommend they all be allowed to stay.” 

With that she sat down, I wanted to cheer for her or at least go give her a hug. Newt scribbled down his notes in his pad with a small smile on his face. I couldn’t turn around to see any more people as the circle had no gone behind my back, I was tempted to close my eyes and use my sixth sense but I didn’t want to do anything to draw attention to myself. I would have to be content with just listening. 

“Next is Minho, Keeper of the Runners.” 

Well that was lucky, I already knew what he looked like. 

“I agree with Katrina,” he began, “these three greenies haven’t done anything that would be grounds for us not accepting them. Even if Lyn has some weird sixth sense it’s not like it’s dangerous, she helped us escape from two FEAR trucks yesterday. If she hadn’t been there and we didn’t have the warning, who knows where we would be today or in what shape we would be in. I recommend they stay.” 

Newt scribbled down in his notebook before looking up, he caught me watching him and gave a little smile before looking at the next person in the circle. “Your turn Jasmine, Keeper of the Baggers.” 

An unfamiliar girls voice soon filled the room, her voice sounded so bored I was surprised she wasn’t yawning. 

“I think it’s a stupid idea, we don’t need any new Gladers. My recommendation is toss them out.” 

I couldn’t believe my ears, the girl sounded so unconcerned like she didn’t care one way or another and yet she decided we should be tossed. I didn’t know if she was going to say anything else but when I saw Newt writing, I knew she must have finished. 

“Clint, Keeper of the Med-jacks you’re up.” 

“I’ll keep this short and sweet,” Clint’s familiar voice said from somewhere behind me, “I recommend they stay.” 

“Okay, good that,” Newt said and he scribbled again in his note book, “Ailee, Keeper of the Animals, what is your opinion?” 

Another new voice began to talk. I turned my head and could just see the girl who was speaking. She was average height, dressed in a brown t-shirt and blue jeans, she was also wearing white sneakers. Her blond hair was pulled into a messy pony tail with strands of hair falling everywhere. She sounded a little unsure as she spoke, “I don’t know what to think. On one hand I agree with Katrina that anyone who needs safety should be welcomed to the Glade. But on the other hand, Winston’s right too, they could be dangerous. We’ve never had anyone who was from WICKED in the Glade before. What if they are spies? What if something happens? But what if they are just innocent people who need help? Then we should help them. It just gets so confusing.” 

“Do you have a recommendation?” Newt asked, I could clearly see he was a little annoyed at her indecisiveness. 

“I don’t know,” the girls unsure voice said.

“I’m going to take that as a no,” Newt said and jotted down a note in the pad. “Okay Zart, Keeper of the Gardens, your turn to speak.” 

A big boy stood up and looked so unsure of himself. He was pale, unbelievably pale, with white blond hair and bright blue eyes. He licked his lips nervously, eyes darting around the room as if waiting for someone to tell him what to say. 

“Um… I think…,” he stumbled over his words for a while before clearing his throat, “I think they should be allowed to stay. I think we should help them.”  
Newt nodded and wrote down what Zart said. 

Finally, we were up to the person I dreaded talking. Gally looked smug as he waited for Newt to announce him. His body language was casual, as though he knew what the outcome would be. He was leaning back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, a smirk on his face as he looked over each of us. I tried to keep my face blank, tried to make out that I wasn’t scared. 

“Finally, Gally, Keeper of the Builders, it’s your turn to speak,” Newt didn’t look happy about announcing Gally. 

Gally stood up and I feared what he would say, “ever since we have found these three greenies bad things have happened. When we were driving back to the Glade we were nearly caught by FEAR. Then the Ben incident happened, we’ve not had an incident like that in ages. Who were the last people to interact with Ben? The greenies. He was walking them to the slammer. For all we know they did something to him. Maybe the girl with the sixth sense can actually infect people. We don’t know. We know nothing about these people.” 

“Don’t be stupid Gally,” Minho’s voice cut through Gally’s tirade, “your spouting a bunch of klunk.” 

“Minho,” Alby shouted, “sit down and slim it. No one interrupted when you spoke.” 

I couldn’t see Minho but all of a sudden Harriet spoke up, “Sit down Minho.” Her voice held authority and I heard a chair squeak and knew he had finally sat down, reluctantly. 

“Continue Gally,” Newt said and rolled his eyes. 

“I recommend they be banished somewhere so that they can’t find their way back,” Gally said looking at each one of us, hatred in his eyes, before sitting back down in his chair.  
Newt scribbled something on his pad. 

Alby stood up and looked over at the three of us before glancing at each Keeper in turn. Finally, he spoke, “you have just heard reasons why we should and shouldn’t vote these greenies into the Glade. Newt, Harriet, Sonya and myself will say nothing else on the matter. It has now come time to vote. All those who vote that the greenies stay raise your hand.” 

I watched as slowly people around the circle rose their hands. Newt, Minho and Sonya were among the first to raise their hands, followed by Frypan, Katrina, Clint and Zart raising theirs. Another hand joined, it was Ailee the girl who had been so confused earlier. The last hand to join was Harriet’s. That meant we had nine votes out of fourteen. The majority was ours. 

Newt smiled, “nine votes out of fourteen, welcome to the Glade greenies.”


	13. THIRTEEN - LYN

As soon as those words left Newt’s mouth all hell broke loose. Gally was beyond mad. He began yelling, his arms flying in every direction. Some Keepers tried to calm him down, while some of the other Keeper’s began yelling back at him. Alby and Newt were trying to calm everyone down while Harriet watched the exchange with interest and Sonya was one of the people yelling at Gally. 

In the end Gally shot the three of us an evil glare, told us he would keep an eye on us and then stormed out of the room. Some of the Keepers went with him while others stood gobsmacked at his outburst. I was shocked. Still sitting in my chair, trying to disappear into background which was hard considering we were at the centre of the storm.

It was hard to be angry at Gally, he truly believed we could be a threat to his home. He was just trying to protect himself and his friends, it was an admirable trait to see someone with such a strong protection instinct. It was just terrified that it seemed to be against my friends and me. It made me weary of him. I didn’t know how he was going to react to us bumping into him in the Glade so I made the decision, I would avoid Gally at all costs. 

“Everybody slim it!” Alby finally yelled above the noise and everyone shut up, all eyes looking at him. He hadn’t moved from his spot at the top of the circle. “We have voted, this is the result, Harriet and Sonya will give the greenies a tour of the Glade. The rest of you will go back to your work.” Once he had finished talking he walked over to Newt and whispered something to him before they both made their way out the door. 

The room began to clear, Minho came up to us and gave us all a clap on the back before heading out to work. 

“I knew you were going to be okay,” Sonya said suddenly appearing behind me. 

“That made one of us,” Thomas said with a small smile on his face. It was nice to see him smiling, it had been so stressful the last couple of weeks. Planning our escape from WICKED, surviving in the Scorch, there hadn’t been a lot of times for jokes and laughter but now maybe there would be more chances. 

“It’s nice to meet you greenies,” said Harriet, her stern face had softened a little but she still wasn’t smiling, “my name is Harriet and I am in charge of the internal running of the Glade.” 

“Don’t worry Harriet,” Sonya interrupted, “I gave them a rundown of how our leadership system works last night.” 

Harriet shot Sonya a concerned glance, “don’t let Alby know about that. Telling people about us who are not a part of the Glade is a punishable offence.” 

“You have punishable offences?” I asked shocked, looking between Sonya and Harriet. 

“Of course,” Sonya said smiling, as though she hadn’t just told she could be punished. “In order to keep things running smoothly there has to be rules put in place and consequences for breaking them.” 

“There aren’t too many rules and they are simple to follow,” Harriet said beginning our initiation into the Glade. “The most important rule is not to hurt another Glader. That is the only rule that is punishable by banishment. I think that’s why Alby and Newt followed Gally, they’re probably planning to remind him of that rule.” 

“That’s good to know,” Teresa mumbled. 

Sonya chuckled a little before continuing the conversation, “the other rules are simply about doing your bit in the Glade to help out. You guys will get to try all the jobs before we allocate you one, hopefully you don’t end up as a Slopper.”

The way they said Slopper seemed a little derogatory. I remembered Chuck said he was a Slopper and I tried to imagine what type of job he might do. 

“What’s a Slopper?” Thomas asked, he was leaning in, trying to absorb all the new information. I didn’t need any sixth sense to see all the different questions running through his head, I just needed to know his personality. Thomas has quite the inquisitive mind. He always liked to know everything that was happening around him. That was one of the reasons he hated WICKED, you never knew anything. 

“A Slopper is like a cleaner,” Harriet answered, “in order to keep the Glade running we need someone to keep things clean.” 

“Basically, anyone who doesn’t show any talent in another area, ends up as a Slopper,” Sonya said. “Today you will begin trying jobs.” 

“Are there any other rules?” I asked, I didn’t want to break a rule and have Gally mad at me. I figured he was going to be watching us to see if we stuff up, so the more we knew the more we could keep him off our backs. 

“A few,” Harriet said, she glanced down at the watch on her wrist, “lets walk and talk. We still need to show you around the Camp. We will answer questions as we go.” Without waiting for anyone to agree with her she turned and started walking out the room. I guess she was used to people following her orders. 

We left the Keeper Hall behind us and walked into the middle of the camp, this area was a small circular clearing of grass, surrounded by buildings with a bonfire pit built in the middle. 

“This here is the meeting point,” Harriet said walking up to the fire pit. “This is where we hold celebrations or hold meetings when we discuss things with the whole group. Tonight, we will throw a party to honour you guys being accepted, so you will get to see this place in it’s prime.” 

“As you can see, the closest building to this little campfire is the cafeteria, we will go grab some food after the tour. As it is, Fry’s only just got back to the kitchen, he will still have a lot of prep work to do, which means there is plenty of time to show you around,” Sonya said, she had been following along behind us.

Looking around the camp there weren’t many people walking around, most were probably still asleep. Harriet pointed out the different buildings around the campsite, we were already familiar with the slammer, which was located just to the side of the cafeteria, near a line of trees. There was a collection of different sized make shift houses where people would sleep. I thought hut might be a better word for them. To the side of the huts were communal showers, separated of course. Harriet told us they would look for a hut for us but at the moment we would be sharing with one of the other Gladers. 

Sonya spoke up and let us know that Minho had already said Thomas could share with him. Harriet said they would try to find someone who would take Teresa and me into their hut, she promised we would not be spending another night in the slammer.

There was another building that was hidden behind the Keeper Hall. This building was just a square hut out amongst the tree line. When questioned about that building Harriet simply said it’s for runners only and to stay away. After Harriet finished talking Teresa and I shared a look before turning to Thomas, just as I predicted, he was still looking at the runners only building, his eyes had a small fire burning in them. I knew he would now try to be a runner. Teresa and I locked eyes again before shaking our heads and tuning back into the tour. 

A little outside of the main camp was another wooden building. Harriet told us it was the barn but she wouldn’t take us in, Winston was currently working in there. Since Winston was a slicer, I was pretty happy to walk past. Just past the barn was make shift pens containing a few animals. There were three cows, two sheep, one dog and a few chickens running around free. 

Sonya told us the story of how they managed to find the animals out in the scorch and how hard it had been to get them back to the Glade. Looking around I could tell it must have taken a while to make the Glade in to what it was now. 

“Living here, you can almost forget what the rest of the world is like,” Sonya said leaning against one of the fences. Her blond hair was blowing in the breeze, her eyes looked wistful as she looked back at the Glade, for some reason I don’t think she was looking at the Glade, she was more lost in her thoughts. 

“Come on Son,” Harriet said and turned to keep walking, “we have one more area to show you.” 

I glanced back at Sonya and watched her shake her head and come back into the current moment. Her face grew solemn as she nodded and began following Harriet towards the back corner of the Glade. 

We walked in silence, the three of us exchanging glances as we continued to move towards the other side of the Glade. We were now walking into an area that hadn’t been cleared, there were large trees, robbing us of the sunlight above, there were roots growing haphazardly all over the floor, tripping us now and then but we didn’t stop walking. After a couple more minutes walking, the trees began to thin out and the sun began to shine through again. 

We could now see that we were getting closer to what looked like a sheer cliff. I could tell Teresa was getting a bit nervous, she kept stealing glances at everyone. Thomas moved a little closer to the two of us. We were all wondering where they were taking us and for what purpose. 

Finally, we broke through the forest and made it to another small clearing, Harriet and Sonya had stopped walking. I stopped and looked around and suddenly realised the significance of this place and knew why they had put it so far away. 

“Welcome to the graveyard,” Harriet said wearily. 

All around us were small crosses, some made out of wood, some made out of sticks. Names were engraved on each cross. 

“We try our best to forget what’s out there,” Harriet said, turning around to face us but sometimes an accident happens during a job, sometimes a crank will break in, sometimes a Glader turns on another. This is why we have rules and structure. We don’t want to bury anyone else.” Harriet went quiet, during her last line her voice had broken and I wondered what decisions she had been forced to make as the leader of this group. 

“If you get the flare,” Sonya said and walked closer to the cliff face. As she moved my attention turned to a rock behind her. There were names carved in to it, before I could ask what they were for, Sonya spoke again. “If you get hurt on a run and don’t come back. We will carve your name into this rock so that everyone will remember you. Being here in this Glade, we are like a makeshift family. We all have to work together to survive.” 

Sonya touched one of the names on the rock and I was shocked to see it was Ben’s name. Only last night had he been taken somewhere but they had already carved his name on the rock, he was already thought of as dead. 

Thomas and Teresa stayed as silent as me, in this sort of setting anything we said would have seemed to loud. The five of us stood in silence for a little while longer before Harriet swiftly turned and began to make her way back through the forest. 

Sonya sighed, touched the rock again and then turned to follow. Thomas, Teresa and I shared a quick look before we to left the graveyard.


	14. FOURTEEN - LYN

Once we made it back to the small clearing in the centre of camp, Harriet announced that the tour was over and walked off. 

“Don’t worry,” Sonya said smiling at us, “she’s always been very abrupt. Anyway, now that that’s been taken care of, let’s get some breakfast. I don’t know about you but I am starving.” 

Sonya lead us into the cafeteria which was empty. The cafeteria only had three wooden walls held together by rope. In the walls were some holes, it looked like they were supposed to be windows but there was no glass to protect them from the elements. There were mismatched tables and chairs scattered around the room, it appeared as though the runners had grabbed anything and everything when they had been gathering supplies for the Glade. Some of the tables had been pulled out into the sunshine, which was probably why they had only created three walls. Along the back wall was a bunch of tables pushed together to create a massive island bench, running along the length of the cafeteria. Behind the island was a door way that lead into the kitchen. On top of the island of tables were covered with abandoned pots, pans and trays, that looked like they had once held different types of food. 

It turned out that it hadn’t taken Frypan long to fix up breakfast so by the time we arrived it was just the four of us. Sonya told us to grab a seat while she grabbed us some leftover breakfast. The three of us sat down at what used to be a picnic table, it was a long wooden table with attached wooden bench seats. Thomas and Teresa slid onto one side of the table and I sat down on the opposite side. 

“This place is amazing,” Thomas said leaning in and whispering, “I can’t believe something like this exists in a desert.” 

“I know,” Teresa nodded in agreement. 

It was amazing that these teenagers, I had yet to see someone who looked over the age of 18, had managed to build something like this in a place that was so desolate. Sitting here you could hear movement around the camp as people began to get on with their jobs. That made me nervous, thinking of jobs, Sonya had said that today we will be getting assigned a job to try. I doubt we would be allowed to stay together which made me worried, I just hoped I wouldn’t be put with Gally, surely, they wouldn’t be that mean. 

Sonya came back with a tray loaded with food and I felt my mouth begin to salivate. I had never seen such a range of food. In WICKED we had been given simple food and it never changed. At breakfast we would get a porridge, for lunch we would have some sort of salad and for dinner it would be some meat soup. There had also been times when they wouldn’t feed us as well, trying to see how we would react. I can tell you when Thomas gets hungry he gets angry, I think he actually bit someone once. 

“Fry said there wasn’t a lot leftover and recommends we come on time tomorrow,” Sonya simply rolled her eyes and slid into the seat next to me. She put the tray in the middle, her eyes glancing over us, probably taking in our hungry expressions. “Well dig in guys, you can’t eat it with your eyes.” 

Thomas didn’t need to be told twice. Teresa and I laughed as he practically inhaled an apple. On the tray was a collection of fruits, that must have been home grown, there was a few pieces of omelette, there was some toast. It was amazing. 

The four of us were still devouring our breakfast when I sensed someone walking towards us. Looking up I watched as Newt rounded the corner and walked towards us. I could still see a slight limp as he walked but he had been attacked yesterday, maybe it had aggravated the old injury. 

“Enjoying breakfast greenies?” Newt said moving around the table and sliding in next to Sonya. 

“I’d say,” Sonya said smiling at her brother, “Thomas practically inhaled it. What have you guys been eating the past couple of day?” 

I know she meant it as a joke but the three of us quickly grew silent, we were probably each recalling our own memories of the past few days or even the meal service back at WICKED. 

Newt seemed to sense our discomfort and quickly changed the subject. “I’ve been sent with the task of introducing you to the jobs you will be doing today.” 

“Jobs?” Thomas said through a mouth of food, looking between Newt and Sonya.

“Yeah, jobs,” Sonya said nodding her head, “I mentioned it earlier. Everyone in the Glade has a job and until we work out where you will fit in best, we will have you try a few different jobs.” 

“I talked to Alby and Harriet,” Newt said between a bite of toast, “Teresa you will be in with Clint and the Med-jacks today. Tommy you’re working with Winston and the Slicers and Evie you’re in here with Frypan. I’m looking forward to lunch.” Newt waved his piece of toast at me, with a small smile, “hopefully you can cook.

“I don’t know,” I said looking up, feeling my brows furrow as I tried to think back to any memory of me in a kitchen. Frypan had been on our side during the vote so hopefully he would be nice.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sonya said smiling at me, “Fry is pretty strict in the kitchen. He’ll make sure you don’t poison anyone.” 

The five of us continued talking as we finished eating, Thomas wasn’t looking forward to working with the Slicers and as he found out more about what the job entailed, he slowly stopped eating. Once we finished eating Newt took me through the door way and introduced me to Frypan the Keeper of the Cooks. 

“You ever cooked before green bean?” Frypan asked me, looking me up and down. 

I must say that I felt intimidated by his staring and with him calling me a green bean. Was that a kitchen joke? Would they all call me green bean? 

Newt just laughed beside me, “she has no memory of cooking but who knows she could be a natural.” 

Frypan chuckled, “alright well newbies go on dishes duty.” Frypan pointed over his shoulder at a bucket of water. Washing dishes, that sounded like a fun job. 

“Good luck Evie,” Newt said as he clapped me on the back, he then turned around and left me in the kitchen. I walked over and began to do the breakfast dishes. 

Doing the dishes was kind of therapeutic, it gave me time to think about everything that had happened and it allowed me to lose myself by eavesdropping in on others people’s conversations. After the dishes from breakfast were clean and put away, I was then tasked with the job of chopping fruit and vegetables. 

Frypan was well named, he was a wiz in the kitchen. I was learning a lot from him. 

“You’re pretty good at that,” a voice behind me jolted me out of my thoughts, thankfully I didn’t slice my finger. I looked over my shoulder to see Frypan standing there looking down at my work. “Maybe you have done this before,” he smiled kindly before moving on and checking on some other Gladers. 

It made me pretty happy to get complimented but I was a little nervous when Frypan said that I could go out the front and help him serve the food. I would have preferred a more background role. Instead I was out the front ladling pea and ham soup into cups for the waiting Gladers. 

Some were really nice, welcoming me to the Glade, some just stared at me. One asked me if it was true I had a WICKED tattoo, I didn’t like that question. It seemed as though no one knew about my sixth sense, it would make sense for the Keepers not to tell anyone, it might start a riot. 

I felt a smile grow on my face when Clint and Teresa appeared in the line, as I was scooping them out some soup, they asked me about my day. I couldn’t say too much before they had to move along. I still had a small smile on my face as I looked up at the next person in line and I felt it fall away. 

Gally was standing there glaring at me. He held his bowl out and I scooped some soup into it. He didn’t say anything as he collected his soup and moved on. I watched him go, feeling a little anxious, I was happy he didn’t explode again like this morning but he still didn’t look happy. 

“How’s the soup?” another voice asked and I turned back to see Newt standing there smiling at me. His blond hair was a bit tussled from the wind and his white shirt had some dirt on it. I knew that sometimes people had multiple jobs and remembered that Newt said he tended to move around the Glade taking of different jobs when needed. 

“It’s good,” I said and again I felt a smile pull at me lips, “Frypan made it. It’s umm…pea and ham soup.” 

“Did you do any cooking?” he asked and looked along the tables. 

“I cut some of the fruit and vegetables.” 

“No wonder they look good, I’ll be sure to try some,” Newt said, still smiling and moved along the line.

Once all the Gladers had been served Frypan allowed us to grab our own meal and go and sit down. I found Teresa, sitting with Chuck and went to join them. 

“Have anyone seen Thomas?” I asked as I sat down. I couldn’t remember serving him in the line. 

“He is still with Winston,” Chuck said speaking with his mouth full, “I think they were about to kill a cow. Don’t worry though, Thomas will probably just watch Winston do it.” 

I nodded my head but shared a look with Teresa. We were both pretty sure Thomas was not going to like that job at all. 

The three of us sat together, talking, lunch until we noticed the cafeteria starting to empty. 

“Time to get back to work,” Chuck said sighing dramatically. He picked up his tray, Teresa and I followed suit and then followed him as he put it in a plastic tub. I recognised that tub from the dishes this morning and could already work out what my next job will be. 

“See you later,” Chuck waved as he walked away. 

“I guess I better head back to work too,” Teresa said stretching. 

“Are you enjoying it?” 

“It’s a lot of sitting around, although I stitched up a tomato earlier today. That was unique. Oh yeah, Clint told me to ask you to come by later this afternoon. He said he wanted to check the stitches.” 

I nodded and Teresa walked away. Just after she had left, Frypan came back out from the kitchen and told me that after I had done the dishes I could go. 

“We’re getting ready for a feast in your honour, it wouldn’t seem right if I asked you to work on it. I heard Clint wanted to see you, so you can go check in with him and then look around the Glade some more. I’m giving you the afternoon off. Hopefully you become a cook, I think you would do good.” 

I smiled and thanked Frypan as he walked away, talking about how much work he had to do and I got started on the dishes.


	15. FIFTEEN - LYN

After a quick visit to Clint, where he told me I can get the stitches out in a couple of days, I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Glade. It truly was beautiful, all the different shades of greens and browns, the multiple colours of the fruit and vegetables. The sounds of the animals filled the air. It was hard to believe that outside was a desolate desert, barren of any life.

As I walked around I noticed that the Gladers who were still working would stare at me but they never spoke. I hope this will change soon, it would be nice to make some friends here and to build a sense of belonging, at the moment I definitely felt like an outsider.

Not really knowing what to do, I just kept walking around the Glade. I was trying to familiarise myself with my surroundings, hoping this would help make me feel like I belong. I had been skirting the edge of the forest area behind the Keeper Hall for a while before I decided to walk into it. I felt like I needed some alone time away from the hustle and bustle of the camp.

At WICKED we would be left alone for hours or days before they would let us meet or cart us off for some experiment. Being surrounded by people was nice but it was something I wasn’t used to. As I walked deeper into the patch of forest, the leaves on the trees began to block out the light. I had to look down to make sure I didn’t trip over the tree roots and branches that were scattered around the floor.

Eventually, I noticed that the ground was getting lighter and looked forward to see a small patch of grass being illuminated by the sun. Quickly moving forward, I walked to the centre, looking around. I was surrounded by trees, it was something I never thought I would see, something I never thought I would be able to experience. I quickly moved to the shade of the trees and laid down. Sleeping in the slammer last night had been difficult, Chuck had been nice enough to give us each a blanket but there wasn’t a lot of space in the slammer for three people to spread out. The three of us were lying on top of each other the whole night and when one person moved the other two would wake up.  
Laying down in the shade, I closed my eyes and started to drift away.

 

_Steel bars surrounded me, I was in a cage. There was a small light behind the cage, illuminating it to me. The rest of the room was dark, I couldn’t make out anything, I didn’t know if there was anyone else in here with me. Moving closer I reached forward and wrapped my hands around the cold metal. It was solid. I began trying to break myself free, pushing and pulling on the metal. However, it was no use, I wasn’t strong enough. I heard movement and what seemed to be a door opening, light filled further in the room and I could see more cages lining the room. There was no one near me but I could see silhouettes of other people in cages that were further away. I could hear the other people in cages calling my name, they seemed worried as the two men who walked down the corridor approached me. The two men stopped in front of my cage and then my vision went black._

_Opening my eyes, I saw that I was now being dragged down a corridor, it was the two men from earlier, they were on either side, dressed in white coats. Was I back at WICKED? But they had never locked us in cages and this didn’t look like the WICKED facility I had been held at. My head lolled from side to side, feeling foggy, I realised with a start that I had been drugged. I heard someone call my name again, this time it was just one voice, it sounded familiar. I turned my head to see who was calling but once again my vision faded to black._

_Again, I opened my eyes to see that everything around me had changed. I was now lying in a bare room; the only illumination came from a single light bulb above. Quickly standing up I looked around for a way out. The walls were all black, the floor was a dark wood and looked to be stained with something black. I felt myself swallow as I realised it was blood. What made me more nervous was the fact that there was only on door. Looking around some more showed me that in the far corner seemed to be a camera._

_I walked closer to the inspect the camera when I heard the only door in the room open. Turning around I saw one of the men in white coats from earlier shoving someone else into the room with me. Looking closer I noticed something wasn’t right about that person, their skin was black and veiny, they had bald spots on their head where it appeared they had pulled out their own hair. I froze. It was a Crank, they were putting a Crank that was completely past the gone into the room with me. The man in the white coat threw the Crank in the room with me, he quickly shut the door, I could hear the lock turn. The moment the door closed the Crank charged at me. I screamed as I tried to fight it off._

_I heard the familiar person calling my name again, it sounded like Thomas._

_“Lyn!”_

_I couldn’t be distracted though, I had to keep the Crank off of me._

_“Lyn!”_

_My vision began to go black again._

 

“Lyn,” I felt someone shaking me awake and realised with a start that had all been a dream. I instantly sat up, feeling my breath coming in pants, my hair and clothes were stuck to my body with sweat. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest.

I felt someone rubbing my back and knew Thomas was there trying to sooth me. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down my heart and my breathing.

“Deep breaths Lyn,” Thomas said beside me, still rubbing my back, “you’re okay. You’re safe.” He kept repeating different calming phrases until finally I did feel calm.

I took another calming breath, settling myself down before I finally turned to look at Thomas. His face looked concerned as his anxious eyes scanned my face, trying to make sure that I was in fact okay.

“Another nightmare?” Thomas asked, breaking the silence that had settled between us. His hand was still resting on my back, offering comfort.

I nodded. Both Thomas and Teresa knew that I suffered with nightmares, Teresa used to hear me through the walls sometimes back at WICKED. However, only Thomas really knew what I dreamed about. Most of the time it was just random flashes, like today.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” he pressed further.

I nodded and took a deep breath before telling him what I had just dreamed. “I think it must have been brought on by everything that’s happened in the past few days.” It would make sense, I had dreamed of the cage because I had been in the slammer for a couple of hours. I dreamt of the Crank because I had been attacked by a Crank and the people in white coats because of WICKED. Looking at Thomas I knew that he had another idea about what these dreams were running around in his head.

“What are you thinking?” I asked him.

“What if they’re not dreams, Lyn?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if they’re your memories coming back slowly? I think you’re dreaming about the place that gave you the other tattoo.”

“Impossible,” I said not wanting to think about it like that. If that was true and I had been in a place like that I didn’t want to get any of those memories back.

“Newt said there were about seven other groups around here,” Thomas continued, “one of which was FEAR. He has heard rumours that FEAR collects Cranks. Based on your dreams you might have been at FEAR before.”

I shook my head, I really didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to get memories back of a horrible past. Even my memories of WICKED weren’t the best. I didn’t want to live in the past. I only want to move forward.

Thomas was about to open his mouth but I cut him off, “stop. I don’t want to think about my past. I don’t want to remember anything about that time. I am a different person from back then.”

Thomas looked at me for a while, searching my face before he finally nodded and dropped the subject.

“This is a great spot you’ve got here,” he said look around the small clearing. I also looked around and noticed the whole clearing was in shadows indicating the sun was slowly sinking.

“How long have you been here?”

“I had only just arrived when I saw you tossing and turning in your sleep. I was trying to escape from Winston. I do not want to be a Slicer. You wouldn’t believe the look Winston got in his eyes just before he killed a chicken. It was seriously creepy,” Thomas said before shaking himself out of his thoughts. I just laughed at him.

“But what are you doing out here sleeping anyway?” Thomas said, turning his head to look at the side of my face. “You’re supposed to be in the kitchen.”

I took a deep breath and stretched before answering, “Frypan gave me the afternoon off. He said they were preparing for the feast tonight and it didn’t seem right getting me to help, so I went walking instead.”

“Walking,” Thomas snorted, “more like sleeping.”

I pushed him and laughed. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt like this. I felt like a weight had been dropped off my shoulders. I finally could let my guard down and relax.  
At least for the moment, here with Thomas in the small clearing.

“Speaking of the feast,” Thomas said and pushed himself to his feet, “we should probably head back soon, can’t be late to our own party.” Thomas turned to me and reached out a hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. I dusted off the back of my jeans and stretched again.

Together the two of us turned and began to make our way back to the main area of the Glade. Just as we entered the line of trees, Thomas turned to me with a mischievous grin and I knew he was going to say something I didn’t like.

“Maybe you can even have a shower, no offence Lyn but you smell like sweat,” he finished laughing. I pushed him again and he tripped over a root. He only just managed to catch himself on a tree just before he face planted on to it. That set me off laughing, the both of us smiled as we began to walk.


	16. SIXTEEN - LYN

Walking out of the forest we could see that the sun had begun to set and knew it wouldn’t be long until this feast everyone was talking about would start. 

“There you are,” said a voice coming from the side. I turned to see Sonya walking towards us. “Where have you been? Newt was looking for you guys.” 

“Sorry,” Thomas said scratching the back of his neck, “we accidently fell asleep. Both of us didn’t manage to get to much sleep last night.” 

Sonya nodded in understanding and I wondered if she had ever spent a night in the slammer. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Sonya said shaking her head dismissively. “I was just coming to see if you wanted to get cleaned up? There are some showers just next to where we sleep. I was going to lend you some clothes Lyn. Cause no offence but you sort of look a little ridiculous in my brother’s clothes.” 

I looked down and took in the baggy brown cargo pants I was wearing, they had been folded up a bit at the bottom and Minho had given me some rope to act like a belt. I smiled as I realised I did in fact need to change clothes. Thomas looked over at me before he broke out into laughter. I shot him a scowl before turning back to Sonya. 

“I would really appreciate some new clothes,” recalling what Thomas said earlier I also said, “and maybe a shower.” 

“That can be arranged,” Sonya said smiling. She walked up to me and linked her arm in mine before she started to drag me away. She turned her head to look back and Thomas,  
“Minho might be able to give you some clothes, his at the meeting place setting up some chairs.” 

Turning back around, Sonya led me in the direction of the showers. The building was communal which made me a bit nervous but Sonya explained that they had divided the room in half. Walking in to the wooden building I could see that they had built a divider in between the room and had two separate entries. 

Two out of four of the walls were bare. Along the furthest wall were small cubicles, inside each, stood a weird bucket construction which I figured were the shower heads. The other wall was covered in open shelves and cabinetry, it looked like there were some towels, soaps and shampoos. It was actually pretty impressive; these guys were quite creative and resourceful. 

“Back in the early days some guys and a girl actually got thrown in the slammer for peeping, that’s why we built the wall. We want everyone to feel safe and once people knew what the consequences of peeping were they quickly stopped.” Sonya said as she walked me to the stall in the furthest corner of the room. 

“There’s another smaller dam of water just behind this building. That’s why we decided to build the showers here. Gally created some weird piping system that carries the water here. It’s all a bit complicated, all I really know is you push this flap open and water flows and then you push it closed and the water stops.” Sonya continued while showing me what to do. “Just a fair warning the water might be a bit cold. It’s best to shower earlier in the day when the sun has warmed the dam. Winter is horrible for showering. You can hear the screams all through camp.” 

I laughed at that comment, imagining people being hit by frozen cold water. 

“There are some towels over there so feel free to grab one. I will go get you some clothes.” I nodded as Sonya walked out of the building. There was no one else in the showers so I had the whole room to myself. 

Clint had told me not to get the bandages and stitches wet otherwise I could get an infection. Looking around I found a bucket and following Sonya’s instructions I managed to fill up the bucket with water. I grabbed a small hand cloth and a towel from where the towels were and walked back to the stall, there was a little spot where you could put your  
clothes and a towel. 

I quickly stripped and began to wipe myself clean, I didn’t know how long I had before Sonya was going to come back. Sonya had been right; the water was cold but at least it wasn’t falling down on me. The cuts and bruises on my arms looked pretty nasty against my pale skin but I had been able to hide that from the others as Newt’s shirt fell down past my hands. Clint had said I didn’t need to keep them bandaged anymore as they were healing pretty nicely but the scrapes on my stomach had been deeper and a few spots had stitches. I still hadn’t looked at what was under the white bandage, I think I preferred not knowing what it looked like. 

I quickly finished wiping myself down and wrapped a towel around myself. I tipped the bucket of water down a hole that was cut into the bottom of the wall, this caused the water to flow back down another pipe which I was pretty sure led back to the dam. This was a pretty ingenious creation. It had surprised me when Sonya said Gally had built it, he hadn’t come across as someone with the ability to do this but maybe that was because so far, he had attacked us and avoided us. 

I was still sitting in the cubical wrapped in a towel when there was knock on the door. Sensing the colour yellow standing outside I knew that Sonya had returned. I slowly opened the door to see her smiling there holding a bundle of clothes. 

“Ta-da,” she said and passed them to me. 

“Thank you,” I said closing the door and getting dressed. I could sense her still out there, propped against the wall opposite from me. I looked down at the clothes she had brought for me, thankfully she had also brought some underwear with her. I quickly pulled them on before examining the clothes. She had brought me some black ripped jeans, a black tank top and cotton white over shirt, like the one I had earlier. The sizes were okay, Sonya was thinner than me but she was also taller than me, so the jeans and tank top fit but the over shirt was a little too big.

I tucked it into the jeans to try and make it look a bit better, I was happy that it continued to cover the cuts and bruises up my arms though. Sonya had also brought me a lacky band so I pulled my long hair back and tied it behind me. 

I glanced down at myself and assumed I must look okay, there were no mirrors to check though. I walked out the cubical, holding my laundry and Sonya pushed herself off the wall.

“You can put your laundry here,” Sonya said indicating a spot in the cabinets, “the Sloppers will clean it tomorrow and give them back to Newt.” 

I followed her instructions and then the both of us walked out the building towards the centre of the camp. 

“The feast will start soon,” Sonya said looking around the camp. As she looked around I noticed her gaze stop on a tall, lanky boy with messy mousy blond hair. A large smile appeared on her face. She suddenly turned to me and stopped walking. “You know your way, right? I’ve just remembered I’ve got some other things to do but I’m sure Thomas and Teresa will be at the meeting spot already. You go ahead and I will meet you.” 

Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked towards the boy who was also smiling at her. It didn’t take long for me to connect the dots, a small smile spread on my face as I continued walking towards the centre of camp.

Thomas, Teresa and I were sitting on one of the wooden bench seats that had been brought out and placed around the fire pit. There were people sitting and standing all around the clearing, all of them talking and laughing, occasionally a few would glance our way. I hadn’t seen Gally since this morning. I wondered if he was going to join the festivities. 

The clearing looked different at night, the air was cooler and I pulled the black jacket Sonya had lent me closer. There were torches set up around the clearing burning with bright orange flames, creating a soft glow. A table had been set up near the cafeteria where Frypan and some of the other cooks were setting up food and drink. The mismatched chairs from the cafeteria had been pulled out and set up around the fire pit but the fire remained unlit. 

The sun had just started setting over the edge of the mountains surrounding the Glade when Alby and a few of the Keepers stood up with torches, the ends of them already burning with flames. 

Alby turned and faced the group, the torch lighting the side of his face. He stepped up on another wooden bench chair and looked around the group, eyes lingering over our faces. This seemed to be a signal for everyone to stop talking and focus on him. 

“Today marks the day we lost a Glader and gained some new Gladers,” he said in a loud booming voice. “Tonight, we mourn the loss of Ben, his memory will not be forgotten but we also celebrate the arrival of Thomas, Teresa and Evelyn. We hope that they find their place amongst us. We must always remember, the only way we survive is together. We look out for our own and we offer a helping hand to those who need it. May the Glade be a safe haven for people for many years to come.” After Alby finished his inspiring speech he jumped down from the makeshift podium and approached the fire pit, the other keepers who were holding torches also walked closer to the fire pit. 

They stood around in a semi-circle on one side before they all threw their torches into the fire pit and set it ablaze. The clearing was quickly filled with a greater source of light and the cold air of the night soon vanished. 

Turning back around from the fire pit Alby once again looked at everyone before raising his arms and announcing, “let the feast begin.”


	17. SEVENTEEN - LYN

After Alby’s speech the feast began, there was an abundance of food and there was a weird drink I had never seen before going around as well. The other Gladers were all happy and forming little groups, I saw all the people from the kitchen get together and wondered if all the groups were people with the same jobs. I suppose you spend the most time with them so it would be natural to make friends with them.

I caught Sonya sitting with the boy from earlier and noticed they seemed quite intimate, they must have been together. Looking around I couldn’t see any adults; the oldest people here couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen. I couldn’t help but wonder where all the adults were but it was nice to see other people around my age, back at  
WICKED we were mostly surrounded by adults. 

I was still sitting on the wooden bench watching the fire, Thomas and Teresa had gone to get some food but I wasn’t hungry at the moment. I was happy enough just sitting down and staring at the fire. Being surrounded by people who all seemed happy was a new concept, it was nice to just take it all in. I didn’t have to be a part of it to enjoy it. 

“What are you doing?” came a voice behind me, I didn’t need to turn to know it was Newt, I was beginning to recognise him easily. “Evie, this party was thrown for you, you should be enjoying it.” 

“I am,” I said turning to look at him. 

“Really?” he said raising his eyebrows as he sat next to me on the bench. In his hands was a jar of the weird drink, “cause to me it looks like your sitting apart from everyone.” 

“I’m taking it in,” I said and looked back around at all the people, “this is a new thing for me. It’s a bit overwhelming.” 

Newt nodded in understanding, “I get it, it must be daunting but you have to remember to reach out to people and get to know them. People need people, in times of weakness and strength we need each other. So, it’s important to forge strong bonds and let people in. You have already got a pretty strong connection with Thomas and Teresa which is only natural after going through what you three did but now you’re here and there are plenty of people who want to get to know you.” 

I turned my head to watch him as he spoke, he wasn’t looking at me anymore, his eyes were scanning over the people around him. His deep, brown eyes reflected the fire and looked warm, his blond hair was softly blowing in the wind. Both his hands were playing with the jar in his hands. When he finished his little speech, he turned to look at me. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to preach,” Newt said, looking at me, I thought I saw a small blush on his face as he quickly looked away from me. He took a swig from his drink before pushing himself to his feet. “Come on, up you get,” he said reaching out for me, “I’ll help you mingle, I’m sure Katrina would love to meet you and Fry won’t shut up about you. He said you were amazing in the kitchen, might petition Alby so he can keep you.” 

“Keep me?” I queried as I took his hand and he pulled me up next to him. 

“Yeah,” he took a look at my face and laughed, “no, you don’t have to worry. It means he wants you to join the cooks in the kitchen. It means you won’t have to try the other jobs.” 

“Why would he want me?” I said as Newt put a hand on my back and began to direct me towards some people, “all I did was wash dishes and cut some fruit and vegetables.” 

“Well you must have been bloody good,” Newt said laughing, he stopped moving. In front of us I recognised the Keeper of the Machina from earlier. I couldn’t remember her name though. She looked better with all the black smudges cleaned off her face. Her black hair was also loose, down to her shoulders and falling down around her face. She had been standing by herself before we joined her.

“Katrina,” Newt said when we were standing next to her, “I know you said earlier you wanted to meet the greenies, this is Evie.” 

“Ah the one with the sixth sense,” Katrina said and held her hand out to shake. I looked at Newt who nodded at me before I reached out and shook her hand. 

“Don’t worry about Katrina,” Newt said smiling, “she has little to no filter.” 

I chuckled as I looked back at Katrina who shrugged her shoulders, “I’m an acquired taste,” she said and took a swig of her drink in a jar. 

“What is that?” I questioned both Newt and Katrina. It looked like some weird amber liquid and it didn’t smell too nice either. 

“It’s Moonshine,” Newt said taking another drink, “do you want to try some?” He held the jar out to me. I looked at it hesitantly. 

“Oh, come on,” Katrina said impatiently but she had a smile on her face to lessen the harsh tone, “don’t be a baby.” 

I reached out and grabbed the offered jar, I looked at the both of them smiling at me and took a drink. The moment it touched my tongue I spat it out. God it was disgusting. I could hear Katrina and Newt laughing at me as I continued to sputter. Newt took his drink back and patted me on the back. My tongue felt like it was on fire.

“What the hell is that?” I questioned while still spitting on the ground. 

“I don’t even know,” Newt said looking at the jar. 

“It’s Gally’s secret recipe,” Katrina said and took another drink, “it’s also a bit of an acquired taste.” 

“I think he is trying to kill me,” I said causing the two of them to crack up again. 

“Don’t bug out about Gally,” Newt said, “he will come around eventually. It’s just you guys are the newest greenies we’ve had in about a year.” 

“And don’t forget your background is questionable to say the least,” Katrina added. 

“Lyn,” a voice boomed from behind us, I turned to see Frypan walking over, “what is this? I cook you a feast, yet you don’t eat it.” 

I looked down nervously, worried I had upset him, until he reached me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. 

“It’s all good,” he said smiling, “just make sure you have something before the night is out. I’ve already talked to Alby and the kitchen is where you will stay. We needed some extra help anyway.” 

“Woohoo!” Katrina said raising her drink, “day one and the greenie’s already got herself a job! That’s got to be some sort of record. That’s something to drink too.” 

Newt and Frypan raised their drinks as well in a sort of toast. I didn’t have a drink and was just standing around awkwardly until Katrina grabbed my wrist and pulled my fist up to bump their glasses. They all took a drink while I lowered my hand. 

After reminding me to grab some food again, Frypan wondered off, Newt was also called away but said he would catch up in a minute. I was now left alone with Katrina. 

“So, you’re from WICKED, eh,” she said eying me up and down. Her demeanour hadn’t changed but I couldn’t read her emotions as she watched me. She let out a big sigh and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, “don’t sweat it, we all come from somewhere. Let’s get some food.” She began to lead me over to the tables of food. 

“Wow, this does look good,” she said looking at the spread that had been placed before us, “Fry really went all out with this.” 

“Is his name really Frypan?” I asked curiosity finally getting the better of me.

Katrina snorted next to me and grabbed a plate, she handed me one too. “Nah, that’s just a nickname. He doesn’t like his real name.” 

“What’s his real name?” 

“Sigmund,” Katrina said and chuckled, “can’t blame him for wanting to be called Frypan, right. What about you?” 

I gave her a quizzical look. 

“Well, your name’s Evelyn but Thomas and Teresa call you Lyn and then Newt for some reason calls you Evie. What name do you like?” 

I paused, I hadn’t really thought of that, “when we were at WICKED and our memories were wiped it took a couple of hours or days for your name to come back. After the first few hours I only remembered Lyn, so we thought that was my name. A few days later I remembered my whole name was Evelyn but they had already been calling me Lyn for a while. I don’t think it bothers me what name people call me. Although I’ll probably respond the most to Lyn.” 

“Lyn,” Katrina said nodding her head, “got it.” 

“I’ve been wondering since this morning,” I said about to venture my own question, “what’s Machina?” 

“Oh,” Katrina said, our plates now full of food, we made our way back to the wooden benches to eat it. “It’s just a fancy word for mechanic, I think. Sonya came up with it. She wanted to try and give the jobs cool names so people would be more excited to do them. I think she just made it confusing. I mean for the first few days after I arrived, I had no idea what a slicer was or a bagger but you learn.” 

“How did you get to be a mechanic?” I asked looking at the girl next to me, she would only have been about sixteen or seventeen and most teenage girls had no idea about engines. 

“My dad used to be a mechanic before the whole Solar Flare thing,” Katrina replied, I watched as she looked out at something in the distant, clearly recalling a memory. “When I was little I used to go to the shop with him and watch him work. Guess I never forgot what he told me.” She shook her head, clearing the memories before she took a big bite of  
food. 

I looked down at my plate, Katrina had piled things on it as she went. There was some meat and veggies covered in gravy. It looked delicious. I picked up a chicken wing and took a bite. 

“This is so good.” 

“I know right but don’t get used to it. Most nights we just have a simple meal, can’t waste our supplies. It’s getting harder to find food. Luckily, we grow a lot of our own. We haven’t had too many problems yet but it’s just a matter of time before there’s nothing else for the runners to steal and who knows what will happen then. Best to not think about it, it’s not a problem yet.” 

I nodded but I couldn’t help but wonder about what the future would hold. I leaned down to take another bite of chicken when I felt the back of my head itch and knew something was coming. Katrina might have noticed something was wrong because all of a sudden, I jolted upright. If she said anything I didn’t hear, I was trying to concentrate. I turned my head trying to sense where this feeling was coming from. 

It was in the direction of the barn but it was further away, it was outside the Glade on the other side of the mountains and there was a lot of them. Closing my eyes, I zeroed in to the location trying to see what was coming. Suddenly the colour red broke into my head and finally, I could see them. There was a hoard of Cranks running towards the Glad. All the Cranks looked as though they were nearly past the gone. I jumped and opened my eyes when I saw the Crank at the front of the group, leading them. It was Ben.

I closed my eyes again and checked again. I had only seen Ben for a few minutes before yesterday, when he had thrown me in the slammer, but I recognised his build and hair. The only difference was the black veins taking over his skin. 

I opened my eyes, Katrina was standing in front of me, shielding me from onlookers. 

“What happened?” she said looking a little startled, “Jesus you’re bleeding.” She said and looked worried now. I reached up and touched my nose, it came away with blood but I had no time to worry. 

“I’ve got to find Newt,” I said standing up and pushing past her. I had to warn him. My nose was still bleeding, so I put my hand under it to try and stop it. I could sense him on the other side of the fire and took off. I was so focused on finding him that I didn’t realise I was going to run into someone before I smacked into their chest and bounced off of them. Two arms reached out to grab me and looking up I saw I had run straight into Gally. Oh crap.


	18. EIGHTEEN - LYN

“What the shuck are you doing?” Gally said, his hands still gripping my arms. I could feel blood flowing from my nose still and raised my hand back under it. Staring up at Gally’s face I thought I saw a flash of concern before settling back into disgust. 

“I need to find Newt,” I said trying to break free from his grip. I was glancing around trying to find him. I knew he was moving towards me and kept trying to get a visual of him. 

“Why are you after him?” Gally questioned. People were beginning to stare at us. Gally must have noticed as well because he began to drag me to a more secluded spot, pulling me away from where Newt was. 

“Let go,” I said thrashing in his grip, “I need to warn him.” 

“Warn him about what?” Gally didn’t look impressed. 

“There’s Cranks coming,” I said still fighting his grip, “there’s a whole group of them.” 

“Why would we believe you?” 

“What the bloody hell is going on here?” Newt’s voice cut through the conversation. I saw him behind Gally, his eyes quickly darting over my blood-soaked face and Gally’s grasp on my upper arms. “What the shuck did you do Gally. We warned you!” Newt yelled as he came over and pulled him off me. Gally seemed shocked as Newt began to keep pushing  
him away. 

“You’ve got it wrong,” I said running over and standing between them, hands held out to protect Gally. That’s something I never thought I would do. Newt’s eyes were wide as he looked down at me. 

“You expect me to believe he didn’t do something to you,” Newt said disbelief evident in his tone, “you’ve got blood pouring out of your nose.” He tried to push around me, Gally just stood there, shocked. 

I held my ground and put my hands-on Newt’s chest to stop him from getting any closer to Gally. “That’s because I sensed something,” I said, holding him back. “There’s a bunch of Crank’s coming this way, they’re all nearly past the gone and moving at a fast rate, they will probably be here in 20 minutes. We’ve got to do something!” I said breathing heavily. I think the blood loss was starting to affect me. 

Thankfully Newt had stopped trying to attack Gally and looked at me for a minute. 

“Are you sure?” he said looking at me intently. 

“Of course, she’s lying,” Gally said, “we’ve never been attacked by a group of Cranks before. The occasional random Crank has appeared now and then but none of them know where we are.” 

“I telling you they’re coming!” I shouted again turning to face Gally, “I saw them, we’ve got to get ready! They’re going to attack!” 

Gally seemed a bit shocked by my outburst and didn’t rebut me. Newt looked at the both of us before turning his full attention to me, “what did you see?” I closed my eyes again and reached out checking where they were. I began to describe what I was seeing to Newt and Gally. 

“They’re out in the scorch, they are probably about 20 minutes away. They are running at the mountain wall but not the side we came in on. They are running towards the west side of the glade, they seem to be heading in the direction of the barn. They’re all running funny and their skin,” I shivered as I looked more closely at some, “some have sores all over their body, others are missing fingers. Oh my God one of them has no nose. There are black veins all over their skin. They’ve all got the Flare.” I felt my legs go weak and began to lose concentration, I opened my eyes just as my legs gave out, surprisingly enough, it was Gally reaching out to grab me that stopped me from falling. My blood nose which had started to slow down was back to bleeding freely and I put my hand up again to try and stem the blood. 

“What does this mean?” Gally said looking over me at Newt, “we’ve never been attacked by a hoard of Cranks before and from what she said they seem to be heading for the secret entrance, only a few people know of that.” I think Gally was starting to believe me. 

“Evie, is there something you’re not telling us,” Newt said still looking down at me. 

I bit my tongue and looked down but I knew I had to tell them, “I recognised one of the Cranks at the front of the hoard. He seems to be a bit of the leader.” I looked up at their faces as I said the next bit, “it looked like Ben. One of the Cranks looked like Ben.” 

“Shuck,” Gally said behind me, “that would make sense, he wasn’t completely past the gone when we banished him last night. He could have gathered the Cranks in section one and brought them back here. He knows where the secret entrance is.” 

Newt looked me up and down, it looked like he was weighing something in his head. Finally, he nodded his head seeming to have come to some internal decision. “We’ve got to get back to the feast and warn everyone. We’ve got to protect ourselves and get ready to fight off a shucking group of Cranks. Did you manage to see how many were coming?” 

I closed my eyes and focused again, trying to sense the movements, in my head I could see them as red dots but they were moving so erratically that I struggled to count them. 

“At least 20 or 30,” I said opening my eyes, I was starting to feel light headed.

Newt nodded again, “I’ll go ahead, gather the others. Gally you help Evie get back to camp. She’s going to need to tell everyone what she saw.” Without waiting for Gally to reply Newt turned and began to limp back the way he came. 

I wasn’t looking forward to being left alone with Gally, especially given the fact that I wasn’t feeling too good. Gally still had his arms around my waist from when he caught me earlier, seeming to realise this at the same time, Gally dropped his arms from around me. 

“Thanks,” I mumbled, my hand was still holding my nose so it sounded more like ‘tanks’. I turned to follow the path that Newt had taken. I took one step forward then I felt the world spin, my knees give way and my vision went black for a second before the world swirled around my eyes. 

Once again it was only thanks to Gally grabbing me that I didn’t face plant it onto the ground. Gally sighed as he took one of my arms in his hand and pulled it around his neck. He put his other arm around my waist and began to half carry, half drag me back down the pathway. 

Most of the journey was silent, we were just about to break through the tree line and make it back to the warm area of the feast when Gally stopped. 

He didn’t look at me and he spoke so quietly I nearly missed it, “did you really see Ben?” he had asked. 

I was quiet for a few seconds feeling the gravity of the situation before I nodded my head in answer. Gally nodded his understanding and then helped pull me into the main area of the camp. 

“Lyn,” Thomas called from the other side of the camp, I looked up to see both him and Teresa running over to Gally and me. The moment they reached us, Thomas pulled me away from Gally and into his arms. “What on Earth happened to you?” he said looking over my appearance, I saw it in his eyes as everything clicked into place. “You sensed something, didn’t you? That’s why they’re gathering us all together.” 

Gally had stayed close by during this exchange, “we need to get her to Newt.”

Thomas shot him a look, he didn’t look like he trusted Gally, “why?” 

“She’s going to need to tell people what she saw, Newt said he would gather the other Gladers. We need to go and see what decision they have made.” 

Thomas shook his head, as though he was trying to clear it, I think he was trying to get over being angry at Gally. Thomas nodded at Gally and indicated for him to lead the way. Thomas shifted my weight so that he was in the same position as Gally was earlier and again I was getting half carried, half dragged through the camp. Teresa was close behind us. 

Gally made a bee line for the trees, I guess he was trying to get us to the others without worrying the other Gladers. I suppose my appearance was pretty spectacular at the moment. I was just happy my nose had finally decided to stop bleeding. I was also feeling a little stronger. Looking down however I realised there was blood staining the white-shirt and there was probably blood covering the bottom half of my face and up my arms.

Walking through the trees, we could see a small gathering of Newt, Harriet, Alby and Sonya up ahead. Katrina was also there, she must have known something was up when I randomly took off. 

They appeared to be in a deep, heated conversation. Alby’s arms were moving a lot and Newt seemed to be trying to keep his voice down. I knew I wasn’t going to like what we were walking in to. 

“What’s going on?” Gally said breaking through the trees. 

The four of them turned to look at us. Sonya gasped when she caught sight of me and I figured maybe I looked worse than I thought. 

“Geez,” Katrina said under her breath, “you look worse than earlier.” 

“How come you haven’t gathered the Gladers yet,” Gally said addressing Alby and Newt. “We’re running out of time.” 

“Alby sent Minho to climb up the mountain and check our intel,” Newt said and he sounded mad. “It’s just wasting time!” 

“You don’t believe her,” Gally said turning to Alby in shock. I must admit I was a bit surprised by Gally’s faith in me all of a sudden but I wasn’t going to argue. 

“You believe her?” Alby said gesturing at me. Ah that’s why the Gladers hadn’t been gathered yet. Alby didn’t believe me. 

“Even if I don’t it’s better to be prepared for nothing than not be prepared for something,” Gally stated and he made a pretty good point. 

“Evie,” Newt said walking closer to me and grabbing my shoulder, “how long do we have now?” 

I took a deep breath and let it out, closing my eyes again and concentrating. I wasn’t feeling to good. I hadn’t really used my sixth sense like this before and the few times I experimented I hadn’t used it this often. Still I needed to do this. I closed my eyes and searched for them, trying to calculate the distance, work out the time we had left. 

Suddenly I felt something rising from my stomach and dropped to my knees I heard worried gasps all around me as I coughed up blood. Well that’s new. Looking back up at them, I took in all their worried appearance. Both Thomas and Newt were next to me rubbing circles up my arm and on my back. 

“We have 15 minutes at least,” I managed to whisper. 

“Do you believe her now?” Katrina said turning an angry gaze to Alby. 

Alby simply nodded but I must admit he looked to be a tad pale. 

“We have wasted too much time arguing,” Newt said angrily from next to me, “we need to take action before they get here. Ben knows where the secret entrance is and according to Evie that’s where he is leading the Cranks.” 

“How do we know he won’t change directions?” Harriet spoke looking down at me. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do that again,” I continued, “they’re so far away that it takes a lot of effort but when they are closer it will be easier.”

“That’s okay,” Newt said softly to me, “you can rest for now. We will prepare for an attack. You don’t have to do it again.” 

I nodded and wiped the back of my hand against my mouth. 

“Katrina and Teresa,” Newt said gesturing for them to come closer, “take Evie to clean herself up a bit and then come back and join us. We will make an announcement to the group.” 

Teresa and Katrina were by my side in an instant, pulling me up and carrying me back towards the shower room.


	19. NINETEEN - NEWT

I watched as Evie was slowly carried away towards the showers. Tommy had mentioned that if she over exerted herself she sometimes got a bloody nose and passed out he never mentioned coughing up blood. She must have pushed herself past her bloody limits. 

Turning around I caught sight of him, he looked down right furious, his gaze never wavering from Alby, his arms crossed over his chest. It looked like he was about to say something to Alby but I knew we couldn’t afford to waste any more time. 

Reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder, I willed him to be quiet as I turned to face the rest of the group. Just as I was about to speak about getting everyone together, the sound of branches snapping and heavy panting filled the air. Looking behind me, I saw Minho was back from his mission.  
He stopped next to me, doubled over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. 

“Remember…how…I…said…it…was…stupid…to go up…the…mountain,” he said between breaths before standing back up and looking at Alby, “I said we wouldn’t be able to see anything, it’s too dark. Well guess what? I climbed up the shucking mountain and couldn’t shucking see anything. You know why? It was too shucking dark!” 

“We had to see if she was telling the truth,” Alby shot back, “are you arguing with my decision.” 

“Yes!” Minho yelled back, taking a step closer to Alby, “because it was stupid. Lyn’s already proven to be able to sense things. She told us two trucks were coming, she even said it was FEAR and you know what happened next? Two shucking, FEAR trucks appeared. Why wouldn’t we believe her now!”  
Alby took a step forward towards Minho and I pushed myself between them. 

“Slim it!” I yelled, “we don’t bloody have time for this! According to Lyn we have less than fifteen minutes to warn everyone and get them safe while assembling a small army to defend ourselves, so everyone needs to slim it and get moving. Minho, take Gally and Thomas with you and go grab the weapons. Harriet and Sonya start gathering up the crowd so we can tell them what’s happening. Anyone who wants to help can grab a weapon and come with us to the secret entrance, those who don’t want to can barricade themselves in the Keeper Hall or the Slammer but they need to stay together. We might also give some of those people a weapon just in case. Why aren’t you buggin’ moving,” I said turning to Minho, Thomas and Gally, who were still standing there, “go!”

Minho didn’t need to be told twice, he tapped Thomas and Gally and began leading them towards the separate runner’s room where we kept the weapons. I turned back around to see Sonya and Harriet walking back towards the other Gladers to gather them together, I moved to follow them and Alby followed me, he didn’t look happy but at least for now it looks like he is going to help. 

“We will not mention Evelyn,” I said as we walked. 

“I agree, I will say Minho saw them doing surveillance,” Alby said nodding. 

As we walked towards the main clearing of camp, I noticed Sonya and Harriet had already done their job. Everyone was standing there watching us, the happy atmosphere from earlier was gone, replaced by a fine tension as the Gladers worried about what was going on. 

Alby was once again stepping up on to a wooden bench, Harriet, Sonya and I stood just beside him, showing our support. 

Alby cleared his throat and began to speak, “we have just been informed of a situation heading towards our Glade. Minho was just doing surveillance around the top of the mountain when he spotted something heading our way.” Murmurs began to break out amongst the Glade whispers about who or what, were coming our way. Alby spoke over the top of them, “there are about 20 to 30 Cranks coming towards us.” 

The worried murmurs from earlier had now turned into full blown yelling as panic spread like wildfire amongst the Glade. 

“Quiet!” Harriet yelled and took a step up onto the wooden bench next to Alby, “thanks to Minho’s intel we can prepare ourselves. All Keepers, Builders and Runners you will report to Minho in front of the separate Runner’s hut to receive a weapon, anyone else who wants to help can go see Minho too. You will then be split up, between going to help defend the Glade against the Cranks and being in charge of protecting other Gladers.” 

“Those of you who are not getting a weapon, the safest place for you to be is the Keeper Hall,” Alby continued, “as Harriet mentioned, there will be people stationed there to protect you. My advice would be get to the Keeper Hall, sit down and stay quiet. Let us do our thing, do not come out until one of us comes and get you.” 

“Does everyone understand?” Sonya said from where she stood. “We don’t have a lot of time. Everyone, go to your places now.” 

Even before Sonya finished speaking, people began moving. Majority of people were moving towards the Keeper Hall while the groups Harriet singled out moved towards the Runner’s separate hut. 

Alby and Harriet jumped down from the wooden benches, the moment his feet were on the ground Alby was walking towards the Runner’s hut and calling over his shoulder. “Girls go grab a weapon from Minho and then head back to the Keeper Hall, watch everyone, keep them safe.” I hurried to follow Alby, the girls nodding in agreement before moving off to do fulfil their jobs. 

There was a small line forming, Gally, Thomas and Minho were all standing there pulling guns, knives and spears out from our stash of weapons. We didn’t have many, most were crudely made by us. 

“Newt,” Minho said as I approached. He turned and reached behind him pulling a rifle out, “saved this one just for you.” 

“Thanks mate,” I said reaching for it and checking it over. I grabbed some extra rounds of ammo and a machete, you know just in case. 

Looking up from the rifle I heard the start of an argument. 

“No way,” Gally’s voice said clearly, “not happening. Get to the Keeper Hall.” 

Turning around I saw Gally getting into a heated argument with Katrina, Teresa and Evie. Evie looked extremely pale in the moonlight but she looked better now that she wasn’t covered in blood. Her hair was pulled back and she looked like a solider as she stood there in a black tank top and black cargo pants. The three of them shouldn’t be out here. They should be going to the Keeper Hall. I took a deep breath as I approached them, preparing for a battle. 

“What’s going on here?” I said although I’m pretty sure I knew why they were here. 

“We’re here to help,” Katrina said. I knew it, Katrina’s eyes were burning and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to talk her out of it. 

“Gally give them some knives,” I said and he walked off to get them, I then turned back to the girls, “the three of you can go to the Keeper Hall and help keep the others safe.” 

“What,” Katrina said enraged, “if we go to the Keeper Hall we might not see any action. We’re here to help, we can help you with the Cranks.” 

That is precisely what I didn’t want them to do, it would be dangerous for Katrina to be out there since she’s so reckless. I don’t know how Teresa would deal with the situation, she’s an unknown and considering a few minutes ago Evie was on the ground coughing up blood I didn’t like the fact she was here standing, I wanted her to be resting somewhere. 

“No,” I said with some finality, “we have enough people with us, we need you to look after the Gladers.” 

Gally came back with two knives and handed them to Teresa and Katrina, “Lyn you’re too unwell to do anything. You need to rest.” That surprised me, Gally said something nice, although this was one of the times I agreed with him. 

It looked like Katrina was about to argue again but Alby walked over, “what are you still doing here?” he said looking them over, he took in the knives in their hands and his eye’s hardened in disapproval, “go to the Keeper Hall.” When it didn’t look like they would move he took a step closer, “now!” 

Lyn and Teresa flinched, Katrina stood taller before turning around and pulling the other two girls with her. 

“That’s one way to handle them,” Gally said turning back around to continue handing out weapons. 

Alby shot me a look before walking off.

“What’s up his butt?” someone said next to me, I turned to see Tommy standing there, he wasn’t looking at me he was watching Alby walk away. 

“His just worried,” I said making excuses for him, looking back at Tommy I noticed a small hand gun by his side, “you coming out with us?” 

“Yeah,” Tommy said looking down at his gun, “I figured I’ve got to do my part, plus I don’t like sitting around waiting for things to happen.” 

“I know what you mean. Come on let’s go, they should be here soon.” Tommy nodded and the both of us walked closer to the group Alby had gathered. I pushed my way towards the front, Tommy staying with me by the time I stopped moving, I was standing beside Minho, who had a machete in his hand. 

“Okay,” Alby said once again addressing the group, “we have the advantage. We know they are coming. Aim to kill, protect yourself, look out for each other and above all survive. Let’s go.” 

With that said the group of us moved towards the secret entrance and positioned ourselves. Knowing I work best as a snipper, I climbed a tree, positioning myself above the fray. Looking down and around me, I saw my friends standing their getting into position and knew I had to do my best to protect these people. I checked my gun, making sure the safety was off and got into position when they arrived. I would be ready.


	20. TWENTY - LYN

“I don’t like this,” Katrina said for the hundredth time, she was pacing back and forth, tapping the blade on her hand, “we should be out there helping.”

“We are helping,” Teresa said, “we’re looking after these people. We’re some of the only people with a weapon. We’re the next level of defence.” Katrina just shot Teresa a look but she didn’t argue back. The three of us were in one of the rooms off the main hallway in the Keeper Hall with some of the Gladers. We couldn’t get everyone to fit in one room so we were spread throughout the first three rooms, Harriet and Sonya would walk between the rooms, checking on everyone, making sure they stayed calm and quiet. 

I was lying on the floor, my eyes closed focusing on the red dots moving towards us. They weren’t here yet but they were close, I could sense the other’s getting in position around the entrance. Thomas was standing next to Minho a small hand gun in his hand, I wished he was here with me. I just hoped he would be careful. Newt seemed to have gained some height, it was like he was above everyone, maybe he climbed up a tree or a rock. 

My concentration was broken when someone lightly kicked me in the knee. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Katrina standing over me. 

“Are you doing that thing?” she said quietly, quickly glancing around to see if anyone was watching. I also checked and after deciding everyone was to scared to pay us any attention, I nodded. 

“What’s happening?” Teresa asked scooting closer to me, Katrina also sat on the ground and stared at me expectantly. I sat up as well and felt the world spin, I had moved too quickly. The three of us sat together, our knees all touching and heads close together, we were in our own makeshift huddle. 

“Nothing’s happened yet?” I said, closing my eyes and lightly focusing on what was happening, meaning I only saw the dots. A few of the dots on our side where coloured, allowing me to tell who I knew and who I didn’t. “I think Newt climbed a tree,” I said sensing his orange dot was still elevated, “Thomas and Minho are standing close together a little in front of Newt. Alby is at the front, waiting. Clint is further in the back, maybe he will focus more on helping those who get hurt rather than attacking.” 

“What about Gally?” Katrina’s voice broke my concentration. I opened my eyes and shot her a quick look, wondering if something was between them before closing my eyes and trying to spot Gally, I had noticed earlier his colour had changed from it’s hostile black to purple, I didn’t really understand what that meant but it did help to find him. 

“Gally is towards the front near the direction of the barn,” I said finally spotting him. 

Suddenly there was movement all around and I felt myself swaying, “the Cranks are here. It’s starting,” I whispered urgently. I felt as Katrina stood up and left the room, heading towards Sonya, clearly passing on the news. It wasn’t long before Katrina was back but I couldn’t concentrate on her. 

The Gladers had all begun to move in different directions, except for Newt. we heard a gunshot split through the silence and one of the red dot’s vanished. Silence filled the room, everyone was scared and shocked. 

“One down,” I whispered, to the two girls listening in. The room was dead quiet but after I had finished talking I heard chatter begin to feel the room and Katrina reply but I had to ignore it as I focused on what was happening. 

The sound of guns firing filled the air but judging by the amount of red dot’s I was still sensing I knew the Glader’s must have had terrible aim. Which was understandable most of them had probably never used a gun before. 

There was a lot of movement and I was trying to focus on the people I knew, particularly Thomas, Minho and Newt. I also tried to keep track of Gally because Katrina kept asking about him. 

I couldn’t tell where Ben was, he blended in with the other Cranks, appearing as a red dot. I just knew he was out there. I didn’t want to close my eyes and actually see them because it had taken so much energy and I was still not feeling a hundred percent. 

“Minho and Thomas are taking on a crank each, they’re back to back,” I decided I had to look, I had to know what was happening. I completely zoned out of the room I was in, I was focusing so hard on Thomas and Minho that eventually I could see them. 

“Damn it,” Thomas said moving back, he had just taken a swing at a Crank. Oh my God, the Crank looked disgusting. I didn’t want to focus on what the Cranks looked like instead I focused on Minho and Thomas. 

“Pull it together Greenie,” Minho said. 

Thomas nodded and I saw his eyes spark as he got an idea, a plan was forming, without thinking through his plan, he put it into action. I watched in horror as Thomas ran straight towards the Crank, the Crank moving towards him, at the last-minute Thomas did a three-sixty spin to the side of the Crank. He pulled his knife up and slashed at it across the throat. It went down. Thomas followed his knife at the ready. That was another Crank down. 

Thomas rushed back to help Minho who was just managing to hold off the Crank on him. Together the two of them managed to take the Crank down. 

I felt someone push me, my concentration broke and I opened my eyes to see Katrina and Teresa staring at me. Katrina offered me a tissue and I realised my nose was once again dripping blood but I didn’t care, I didn’t like sitting here in the dark not knowing what was happening out there. 

“You’ve been quiet for so long,” Teresa said, “what’s happening out there?”

“Minho and Thomas just took down two Cranks.” 

“What about the others?” Katrina said, “how’s Gally and Newt?” 

I closed my eyes and searched for Newt, I found him up among the trees. There were a few leaves and twigs in his blond hair, he was sitting on a branch, a rifle propped up in front of him, one of his brown eyes were closed as he was looked down the sight of the gun. 

BANG!

Another Crank was down. Watching from above he was shooting Cranks that were getting to close to other Gladers. 

“Newt’s up in a tree,” I said aloud to the two girls listening to me, “he is shooting down Cranks and they are falling. He has great aim. Gally is…” 

Knowing the Newt was safe and doing well I tried to tune into Gally. I zeroed in on the purple dot and opened my eyes. Gally had somehow gotten separated from the group and there were three Cranks approaching him. 

“Oh crap,” I said reaching out to grab the knife that was sitting on Teresa’s lap, standing up I took off out of the room and left the Keeper Hall. I heard movement behind me and knew that it was Katrina following me. I just kept focusing on the purple dot in my mind, the one that was slowly getting surrounded. I sprinted towards Gally, he was near the barn, on the other side of the camp to the Keeper Hall. I still wasn’t feeling the best but I knew I had to reach Gally. I knew he needed help. 

Finally, Katrina and I arrived, Gally was trying two of them off of him while the third had just appeared close by. I heard Katrina take in a deep breath when she was who it was, the third Crank was Ben.

“Shuck,” Katrina called as she ran into the fray, she leaped onto the back of one of the Cranks attacking Gally. She managed to get it off of Gally and it started thrashing around trying to free itself. 

I made a beeline for Ben. I had no idea what I would do now that I had arrived, I hadn’t thought this all the way through. Running towards Ben I tried to copy what I had seen Thomas do earlier. Charge, turn and slash the problem was Ben wasn’t as far gone as the others, he still had his senses about him. 

Ben dodged my attack, instead he grabbed my outstretched arm and pulled me towards him, he was trying to grab my throat. I ducked, trying to break his grip but he was really strong, still suffering from my earlier blood loss and light headedness my legs gave way and I fell. Since Ben was still attached to me, he came too. Now I was being squashed by Ben’s body weight on top of me. It took him a minute to understand what was happening but he quickly recovered and soon he was raising his arms up to wrap his hands around my neck. I managed to grab his forearms and tried to hold him off of me but he was really strong. 

The whole time this battle of strength was going on, Ben was snarling and screaming at me, spit landing on me. I was scared out of my mind. I didn’t know what was happening with Katrina and Gally, I couldn’t afford to look over and check on them. 

Someone’s hand reached out and grabbed Ben’s shoulder, pulling him off of me. As Ben went flying I saw Alby standing there, his clothes were torn, there were a couple of scrapes on his arms but over all he looked okay. He turned around to face Ben and I scrambled to sit up. I heard someone else running in to the small clearing and looked over to see Newt running into the Glade. Ben was back up and running towards Alby, Newt raised his rifle and fired. 

The bullet hit Ben and he flew backwards, taking the shot in the chest. The Glade was quiet and you could hear the gurgling breath of Ben, Newt must have nicked his lung. It was horrible, listening to his breathing slow until it eventually stopped. 

Alby kept watching Ben, not moving closer, just watching, I think I saw tears in his eyes. Newt was near the tree line, the rifle was limp at his side, his head down looking at the ground. Katrina was helping Gally stand, it looked like he had hurt his leg. 

Eventually, Alby turned to look at me, “are there anymore?” 

I focused, trying to sense if there were anymore before shaking my head, “no, you got them all.” 

Alby nodded before turning to look at the small group around him, “I don’t even want to know what you two,” he said pointing at Katrina and me, “are doing out of the Keeper Hall. I just want to gather everyone together and move on from this horrible night.” 

Alby closed his eyes and I saw a tear fall down his face before he began to walk off. 

“Let’s get you to Clint,” Katrina said and began to lead Gally off after Alby. 

I watched from the ground before falling back on the grass. I was beyond tired and worn out and stressed. I don’t even remember closing my eyes, but I was soon in a deep sleep.


	21. TWENTY ONE - NEWT

“It looks like exhaustion,” Clint said after looking over Evie, who I had carried back to the med-jack building after she collapsed. “she’s gone through a lot during the past few days and using her sixth sense like that probably drained her. She should just sleep it off but she can stay here and we will keep an eye on her.” 

“Thanks Clint,” I said, he nodded at me and moved off to check on other people. 

I looked back down at Evie, I noted how pale she appeared, her dark auburn hair helped make her look even more pale and there were dark circles appearing around her eyes. Her breathing was even and deep as though she was in a deep sleep. I took a deep breath, sighing in relief and pushed some of her hair away from her forehead before I looked up at the rest of the room. 

Every bed in the room was occupied as Clint, Jeff and Teresa walked around the room look after those who took on the Cranks. Gladers were lying down groaning as they were getting stitched up or a shot of morphine for the pain. 

Minho was sitting in a chair getting looked over by Jeff. Jeff was in the process of stitching up his bicep. During the battle another Glader had gotten too excited and had accidently shot at Minho. Luckily it just winged him on the upper arm but he was beyond pissed. 

Gally was lying down on one of the beds, his left foot elevated by a pillow. Katrina had brought him in earlier, he was limping but Clint had said it was just a twist and he would be better in a couple of days, he just has to keep his weight off it. Katrina had stayed with him for a little while before she had to go help the other Keepers.

There were other people lying around getting some rest. Thankfully it hadn’t been too bad. Everyone came out alive, just a couple of cuts and bruises one of the worst injuries was to Justin who was unconscious but Clint had said he would be alright, just a nasty bump on the head. Since we had been warned, the damage had not been too bad. I didn’t want to think of what might have happened if Evie wasn’t here. 

Aris had come in a little while ago and filled me in on what was happening out in the Glade. The Baggers had been called upon to, round up the bodies of the Cranks. It was rare that the Baggers had a job, which was a good thing but tonight they would be busy, moving the bodies outside the Glade. Alby had said the bodies would be gathered together and then they would be burnt. 

Harriet and Sonya were trying to calm the nerves of the other Gladers but it wasn’t working too well, everyone was worried that more Cranks would come. Alby hadn’t told anyone that the only reason these Crank’s knew where to find us was because of Ben and that it would be highly improbable that another attack would happen. In the end, in order to help everyone, feel safe enough to sleep, Harriet suggested that we set up a night watch. This put everyone at ease and was where Aris had gone after he spoke to me. 

My thoughts were broken into by a sudden commotion at the entrance to the med-jack building. 

“Tom!” Teresa called as he barrelled into the room. Tommy was breathing deeply as he came to a stop in front of her. 

“Where’s Lyn? Is she okay?” Tommy panted, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He was looking at Teresa. 

“Calm down Tom,” she said resting her hands on his shoulders, “she’s okay just exhausted. She’s asleep back there, Newt’s with her.” Teresa began to lead Tommy to the bed at the furthest end of the building which is where Lyn was sleeping and I was standing. 

“I’m fine by the way,” Minho called from his spot, watching Tommy walk by. Jeff was just cutting off the last thread. 

“Don’t whine ya big baby,” Jeff said. 

Tommy ignored the conversation, turning quietly to talk to Teresa, “she’s never done that before Teresa, we don’t know what could happen, we don’t know what it could do to her.” 

“She has passed out before though,” Teresa said her arm around him still trying to offer comfort. 

“She’s never coughed up blood.”

“True,” Teresa agreed, “but she’s never pushed herself that far before.” Tommy looked down at the ground, worry written all over his face. “Hey,” Teresa said pulling his head up to look her in the eye, “Tom, she’s strong, who knows what she’s already survived and she’s got us. We’re always looking over her. Clint said she should wake up tomorrow, she’s going to be okay.” 

Their conversation stopped as they got closer to the bed and I started to think I wasn’t supposed to hear it. 

“You okay Newt?” Tommy asked when they reached us.

“Yeah, you?”

“I’m fine,” Tommy said walking closer to the bed, he reached forward and grabbed Evie’s hand. Teresa stood next to him, arm around his shoulders. I suddenly felt like I was intruding on an intimate moment. 

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you guys be,” I said and started to make my way out from around the bed. 

Tommy looked up and reached out to stop me, “I just wanted to say thank you, for looking out for her.” 

“Anytime,” I said and made my way towards Jeff who was still talking to Minho. 

“I’m telling you it wasn’t that serious,” Jeff said as Minho checked out his stitches. 

“I still can’t believe Justin shot me,” he said incredulously. 

“Well he paid for it, when you ‘accidently’ pushed him out the way of a Crank and he hit his head and fell unconscious,” I said after reaching them and clapping Minho on the back. 

He instantly turned on me, “hey! he was about to be Crank food!” Minho defended himself, “and don’t say ‘accidently’ like that, it was an accident.” 

“Sure,” Jeff said, winking and just like that the two of us broke into laughter while Minho huffed. 

“Anyway,” Minho said changing the subject, he gestured behind him towards Evie’s bed. “How’s Lyn going?” 

“She’s okay,” Jeff said while washing his hands and packing away his equipment, “Clint looked her over, physically she’s fine probably just mentally exhausted. Don’t worry she will wake up tomorrow.” 

“Speaking of sleep,” Minho yawned, he started to stretch but quickly stopped short as he raised his arms. His face scrunched up in pain, “shuck. That’s the side I lay on.” 

“Lay on the other one,” Jeff said as he picked up his equipment and walked off. 

“Good that,” Minho called after him. 

“Man, I am exhausted. I’m calling it quits on today. It’s bed time,” Minho yawned again, clapped me on the back and walked out of the room. I stood there watching him walk away. I was so tired, I ran my hand over my face and jumped when someone hit me on the back, turning I saw Clint standing there looking worried. 

“I think you need to go get some sleep too, you look exhausted man.” 

“I know, I know, I’m just making sure everyone’s okay.” 

“The camp won’t fall apart while you sleep.” 

I chuckled, “you don’t know that.” 

“Sure, I do,” Clint said, he clapped me on the back again, this time he left his hand there and pushed me towards the door. “Go on Newt, the camp will still need fixing tomorrow and I’m sure Evelyn will be awake too.” 

I nodded and began walking towards the door. There was no one in the Glade, they had all gone to bed a while ago except for the people stationed at the top of the mountains, we were doing a watch, sometime during the night they will swap over with someone else. Normally I would have volunteered but after such a late night last night and the events of today I just wanted to sleep. 

I entered my small house, it was bigger than some of the others which was nice. I had a bed in one corner and a couch in the other, along another wall was a small writing desk, which I didn’t use to much but sometimes on a run you would find something interesting. I had a couple books that I had taken, I had also found a few knickknacks that I had taken and placed around the room. 

While our main job was to bring back resources we needed to survive we also occasionally brought back things for enjoyment or decorations that Gladers could use to make the huts feel homier, more like their own. It allows them to show their individuality. 

I decided to sleep on the couch tonight, I didn’t want to get in to bed with out showering and I was way to tired to go shower. Laying down I closed my eyes and tried not to think about what had happened tonight. I had been trying so hard not to think about pulling the trigger and killing Ben. Alby had pulled me aside earlier, telling me it wasn’t Ben, it was a Crank but it was hard to think that way sometimes. 

My mind was going down a dark path, to change directions I started thinking about how lucky we had been to all survive, it was all thanks to Lyn’s warning. Thinking of Lyn made me worried, she looked so frail lying on the bed all pale, I worried that she had pushed herself too far. Tommy and Teresa had also said she had never pushed herself to that limit before. As I drifted off to sleep, I just kept hoping she would wake up tomorrow and be okay. 

The next day she didn’t wake up.


	22. TWENTY TWO - LYN

I groan and try to move my body but it won’t listen to me. My arms and legs feel like they are being held down by an unnatural gravity. I hear noises around me but I can’t seem to make out what they are saying. I try to will my eyes to open but they won’t listen to me. 

“Lyn,” I hear a familiar voice say, “can you hear me?” 

“What’s going on is she okay?” another familiar voice chimes in. 

“Go get Tommy and Teresa,” a third voice instructs someone. 

Once again, I try to open my eyes but they just aren’t listening to me. I try to turn my head and groan again as ripples of pain move through my body. What had happened to me? Why did everything hurt? Why wasn’t my body listening to me?

“Lyn, if you can hear me try and squeeze my hand,” the first voice spoke again, and I felt a hand slip into mine. The voice was speaking soft and calm, like a doctor. That’s when it hit me, the familiar voice, the calm tone, it was Clint, Keeper of the med-jacks. I tried to squeeze his hand back but I don’t know if I managed to or not, my traitorous body was doing nothing but causing me pain. 

The exclaims from the unknown people around me must have meant I achieved something, as I heard them cheer. 

“That’s good Lyn,” Clint’s voice said and once again I tried and failed to open my eyes. “Don’t push yourself to hard,” Clint continued, “you’ve put a lot of stress on your body and it’s physically exhausted. Just try and rest and recover.” 

I tried to nod my head but the world was drifting away again and I was surrounded by blackness as I drifted back to sleep. 

 

A light was hitting me in the face, making me scrunch up my eyes, I tried to move my hand to block the light but it was a struggle. My arms felt so heavy. 

“Turn off the stupid light,” I mumbled, barely conscious. 

“EVIE!” a voice exclaimed loudly and I heard a rush of movement around me. I scrunched my eyes up further as pain shot through my head. I struggled to open my eyes, finally I managed to get them open but everything was blurry and out of focus. A bunch of candles had been lit next to the bed, it was that which had woken me up. 

I could make out two people looking down at me, I just saw one really ran blob with clothes and another extremely pale blob. I blinked my eyes a couple of times trying to focus. My vision started to clear and I could make out Clint above me, reaching out to grab my wrist, feeling my pulse. The other person was Newt smiling down at me, he looked pretty tired but I couldn’t blame him after last night. 

“How do you feel?” Clint asked, he still had a hand on my wrist while he watched his watch, counting my heart beat. 

“I’m okay,” I said my voice scratchy from disuse, I coughed and spoke again “just feeling a bit sore all over. How is everyone else? No one got badly injured, did they? Is Gally okay?” I was starting to work myself up into a panic, raising from the bed ready to get out and go look for everyone. 

“Calm down,” Newt said and put his hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me back. “Everyone is okay and there wasn’t too much damage done to the Glade.” 

Clint nodded as though he was happy with my pulse, he took a flashlight out from his pocket, “follow the light with your eyes please.” 

He shone the light in my eyes and I reoiled at the bright light which brought a wave of pain to my head. I turned back and looked at the light, following it with my eyes. 

“Looks all good,” Clint said, “I still might want to keep you here for the rest of the night for observation.” 

“Why?” I said, “it’s not like I’m injured I was probably just tired what with the blood loss as well. I’m sure in a couple of hours I will be fine.” 

“Do you know how long you were asleep for?” Clint asked me. 

“Just a couple hours, right?” I said thinking back to collapsing on the ground after the battle with the Cranks was over. “How did I get here?” 

“After you passed out I carried you here,” Newt said and I saw concern in his face, “Evie you have been asleep for three days, everyone was worried if you wouldn’t wake up.” 

I froze and felt my breath speeding up, “it’s been three days,” I looked between Newt and Clint in shock. 

“The best I can think is that you were pushed way beyond your limits. Thomas said you’ve never coughed up blood before, nor had you ever spent that long using your ability. It makes sense that it was a shock to the body and you needed extra time to recover,” Clint said trying to calm me down. 

“Three days,” I muttered recalling my days back in WICKED where I would sometimes lose weeks at a time. 

“Evie,” Newt said breaking me out of my horrible memories, his had still resting on my shoulder like a comforting weight, “it’s okay. You used a lot of energy, your body just needed to make it back. Thanks to Clint’s excellent health care you were looked after brilliantly. You will make a full recovery and hopefully we will never have an incident like this again so you can just relax and take it easy for now." 

“And you were never left alone,” Clint said from the end of the bed. “At all times you had either Thomas, Teresa or Newt with you, not to mention all the other visitors you had. I think Chuck even brought you a flower,” he pointed to one of the tables beside the bed. There was a small, dying purple flower laying there. I felt a small smile tug on my lips. 

“That was sweet of him.” 

“He seems to have taken a liking to you,” Newt said smiling back at me. 

“You should probably try to get some more rest,” Clint said to me before looking at Newt, “you too mate. You’ve been here nearly all the time, you look like klunk. Go to sleep and tomorrow tell Thomas and Teresa the good news.” When Newt made no move to leave, Clint walked around to him and began to pull him away, “come on doctor’s orders.” 

“Alright, alright, get your bloody hands off me,” Newt said shaking away Clint’s hands. He was at the foot of my bed when he turned around and looked back at me “I’ll see you tomorrow, Evie.” 

“Thanks for everything Newt,” I felt really touched by everything that he had done for me so far. 

“What about me?” Clint said next to Newt looking a little sullen but a small gleam in his eyes let me know he wasn’t really upset. 

“Thank you too Clint.” 

“Alright, alright everyone out, it’s bed time,” Clint said and ushered Newt away from my bed and out the door. Clint began walking back to me, “I think he needs to sleep for the next three days, did you see the bags under his eyes, anyway I’ll be in the room right next door. If you need me call.” 

I nodded my head, as he approached me, he gave me a kind glance before leaning down to the table next to me and blowing out the candles.

“Thanks,” I said again to him in the darkness. I didn’t know how I would repay both Clint’s and Newt’s kindness. 

“Get some sleep Evie,” he said smiling softly as he walked out the room. 

I was now laying in the dark, I didn’t really want to sleep. I had already slept the past three days away. I was happy everyone was okay and that we had managed to pull through the Crank attack. I hope that I my warning was the reason everyone had pulled through the terrible night. 

I yawned and knew that I was going to fall asleep again, I just hoped I would walk up in a few hours and not a few days. My eyes were getting heavier and were drooping until finally they were shut and I was asleep.


	23. TWENTY THREE - LYN

Voices broke into my mind, as a conversation took place around me, pulling me from my sleep. I felt worried as I tried to work out who was standing there. My eyes were once again refusing to open. 

I was put at ease when I recognised Thomas’s familiar voice, “I thought you said she had woken up?” 

“She did wake up, last night,” Clint replied in a much softer voice, “Newt and I both spoke to her.”

“Why didn’t you wake us up?” Thomas said his voice getting louder. I realised Teresa must have been there too. I felt someone grab my hand, holding it tightly, judging by how soft and small the hand was, I knew it must have been Teresa. 

I managed to open my eyes and looked around at who was here. Teresa was standing the closest to me but I couldn’t see her face as her long chocolate brown hair fell over her shoulder hiding majority of her face. She was the one who was holding my hand in hers while she looked towards the end of the bed behind her where both Thomas and Clint, where talking to each other. 

“It was late and we had only just managed to get you to go and sleep,” Clint replied in his calm tone, trying to bring the tone of the conversation down. 

“Would you stop complaining,” I mumbled. In a split second I had managed to grab everybody’s attention. Thomas seemed to forget about Clint as he rushed around to the other side of the bed. Teresa also turned her attention to me and I could see on her face the worry she had been feeling melt away as she saw me squirming and pushing myself up. 

“You’re awake,” he said as he leaned in close and rested a hand on my head, pushing hair out of my eyes. I caught movement at the base of the bed and saw Clint quietly walk away to give us some privacy. 

“I would still be asleep if you had kept you’re voice down,” I said grumpily, I wasn’t a morning person and I did still feel quite tired but then I realised the stress I must have put both Thomas and Teresa through. I looked between the both of them and saw the evident relief on both of their faces, “I’m sorry,” I said in a much kinder tone, “I didn’t mean to worry you guys.” 

“Don’t be stupid Lyn,” Teresa said smiling at me, “you helped save everyone. Alby said it was only thanks to you that the Glade managed to come out unscathed and Gally has visited you every day. He seems to trust you now.” 

“You’re the only one he trusts though,” Thomas mumbled, “yesterday I was on builder duties and I swear he tried to hit me on the head with a plank of wood, I was just quick enough to dodge.” 

I felt a small smile pull at my lips and a small chuckle escaped as I could perfectly picture that happening. Teresa also started to chuckle and Thomas’s scowl turned in to a small smile. I was happy to know that the animosity Gally felt towards the three of us had cleared up a little. I hoped that from now on we were able to stay here peacefully. 

A sudden clearing of a throat drew our attention to Clint at the end of the bed. He looked happy as he smiled at us, “I just need to check your pulse again make sure it’s still as strong as yesterday and then you are free to go.” 

“Really,” I said sitting up from the bed in a rush of excitement but I moved a little too fast and the world started to spin. I used my hand still in Teresa’s to help steady me. 

“Are you sure she’s okay,” Thomas said, his hands hovering around me as I tried to stop the world from spinning. 

Clint just chuckled as he walked closer, “she’s fine she just needs to take things easy and slow, so no fast movements.” Clint reached out and took my wrist in his, feeling my pulse and glancing at his watch. “All’s good, she should be fine but remember take it nice and slow.” 

“I promise,” I said happily and he turned to walk away. While I did feel a burst of energy my limbs did still hurt a little probably from disuse. I took my hand back from Teresa and pushed myself out of the bed. My legs were a little wobbly but they managed to hold me. I stretched out my arms and back, it felt so good to be standing up. Thomas was hovering around me, ready to catch me if I fell but I think I was going to be okay. 

“Oh, that reminds me,” Clint said turning back to face us, “Alby wants to talk to you but I’m sure he can wait you haven’t had any real food for the past few days so you should probably visit Fry first. I know he will be pleased to see you.” 

“Thanks for everything Clint,” I said from the bottom of my heart. 

“Don’t worry about it, after all, that’s what a med-jack’s for?” Clint replied smiling as he walked out the building. 

“Come on let’s get you some food,” Teresa said while walking toward the exit, “I think it’s just about the end of breakfast so there should still be some food there.” 

I nodded and slowly started to walk after her, Thomas walking close to me. My joints felt all stiff but the more I moved the better I felt. Ever since Clint had mentioned food I realised how hungry I was, my stomach started cramping with hunger and I wondered if I had eaten anything for the past three days. 

Teresa walked ahead of us, as I slowly made my way towards the cafeteria, Thomas still beside me. By the time we had arrived Teresa was already sitting down at one of the mismatched tables with three plates of food, I could feel my mouth start watering. 

There weren’t many people sitting around, just a few stragglers who I didn’t know but they were all shooting glances in our direction. I collapsed into one of the chairs and Thomas finally relaxed and sat next to me, I hope he didn’t keep this up all day. I looked down at the plate of food and stopped myself from drooling. The plate was covered in fruit and bacon and scrambled eggs. I felt my stomach give a lurch and quickly began scoffing down my food. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said a voice from behind me. I twisted around to see Frypan making his way over his arms outstretched as he approached us, “you’ve gotta’ eat slower than that Lyn. I mean I appreciate how much you’re enjoying the food but if you eat too quickly you’re going throw it back up.” 

I swallowed, “sorry,” I said and began eating a little slower. 

“That’s alright,” Frypan said sitting down and joining us, “I mean I am a brilliant chef who cooked a delicious meal, if I do say so myself.” 

I laughed as he bragged, “it is pretty wonderful, I feel like I haven’t eaten in ages.” 

“You haven’t,” Thomas said looking worried. 

“Jeff and Clint tried to feed you some soup as you slept but you didn’t really eat much,” Teresa said over a spoonful of scrabbled eggs. 

I nodded thinking back to the last couple of days that I slept through and asked them to tell me what I had missed. 

The three of them instantly began to tell me different events that had taken place, speaking over the top of each other or retelling the same story from a different point of view but it was nice to eat and listen to them talk so openly. I don’t think I had ever seen Thomas or Teresa like this before. Both of them seemed more open and carefree. 

Over the past few days, Thomas had tried a couple of different jobs, after the first day as a slicer, which he decided he never wanted to go back to, he had then replaced me in the kitchen. Frypan frowned and recounted how Thomas had been so deep into his thoughts that he nearly chopped of a finger, safe to say Frypan didn’t ask for him back. He had then joined Zart in the gardens and planted a bunch of tomato seeds. He had enjoyed that job but it felt a little bit repetitive, I could see the gleam in his eyes, he still wanted to be a runner. Yesterday he was with Gally and the builders, they were repairing some of the damage done to the barn but they ran out of some materials. 

Gally said they may have to schedule another run into the scorch to get some more bits and pieces, they also needed some more material to build a house for Thomas, Teresa and Lyn or at least grab a couple of tents. Thomas, who had been staying with Minho, had asked the Keeper of the Runners if he could go along. Minho said he would have to talk to Alby and Harriet before he could say anything but he didn’t see why not. Minho apparently was really impressed with how Thomas had handled himself against the Cranks and was more than happy to have him join the Runners, they were still waiting for Alby and Harriet’s decision. 

Teresa had worked in the med-jack bay for the past three days, helping Clint and Jeff to deal with the wounded. Apparently, there were a few Glade members trained in basic first aid but only Clint and Jeff were med-jacks because of the attack they were talking about maybe adding Teresa as a permanent member of the med-jacks, she had shown a lot of skill when helping to look after the other Gladers and was a quick learner.

Frypan said that mostly the Glade had gone on a normal except they had set up a night watch at the top of the mountains surrounding the Glade. No one had mentioned that it was me who had given the warning, instead they said it was Minho who had noticed something when he went to get some fresh air. 

“I think Alby doesn’t want people to know,” Frypan said softly leaning forward in his chair, some of the other members of the kitchen crew had come out and were starting to clear up the tables and left-over food. “He doesn’t really know how they might react if he tells them you’ve got a weird sixth sense, mind power thing.” 

I nodded in understanding, I mean it was a weird concept to grasp, when I had first started sensing people I had thought it was strange as well. I had kept it to myself until Thomas noticed, it was only then that I had told both him and Teresa, after first making sure they wouldn’t tell anyone else at WICKED. As far as I knew no one at WICKED had known.

“Right,” Frypan said standing up and stretching, “I think it’s time to get back to work, Teresa you should probably get back to the med-jack bay as well. We can’t sit around and chat all day. Thomas you should go see Harriet and find out what job you’re doing today and Lyn,” he said turning to me, I was waiting for him to give me instructions on what to do in the kitchen but instead he just turned to me and winked, “take it easy today. We will see how you’re feeling tomorrow to see if you can start working again.” Frypan walked off towards the kitchen yelling instructions at some of the other Glader’s as he went. He kept a pretty tight ship. 

The three of us stood up and walked Teresa to the med-jack bay to start her day. After she had left Thomas and I stood there looking around. 

“I wonder where Harriet is?” he said more so to himself than to me. 

“What job do you want to try today?” 

“I don’t know,” he said before thinking about it, “maybe Machina, but I’ve heard strange things about the Keeper Katrina. Although she always came and checked on you when you were asleep so she can’t be too bad.” 

“Katrina’s great,” I said feeling a smile appear on my face as I thought about her, “she has no filter though and in her own words, she’s an acquired taste.” 

“Great,” Thomas said sarcastically while rolling his eyes. 

“Found them!” A voice called loudly behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Minho running over to us while the person he yelled at, Newt, began to jog as well although his running was hindered by his limp. Something about Newt’s appearance made me worried for him, he looked a little depressed. As I watched Newt moving towards us, my vision was interrupted by Minho popping up straight in front of me, without waiting for anyone to start talking Minho reached over and whacked Thomas on the arm. 

“What was that for?” he asked rubbing the spot. 

“I’ve been looking for you for the last fifteen minutes. Where have you been hiding?” Minho said to him in mock anger before turning to me. His whole face changed to one of happiness although he still seemed to have a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Look’s like Sleeping Beauty’s finally awake. Good to have ya back with us green bean, gave us all a pretty nasty scare.” 

“Sorry,” I said feeling a little embarrassed.

“I’d say,” Minho continued crossing his arms over his chest, “since I’ve known you, you’ve been nothing but injured. Let’s keep ya healthy for a while, okay.” 

“Sounds like a good idea,” Thomas said turning to me too. I felt a little intimidated as they both started at me. 

“Knock it off you shanks,” Newt said as he arrived between Minho and Thomas, a small smile on his face. “She’s only just gotten back on her buggin’ feet and you’re already lecturing her.” 

“If it means she will take better care of herself then yeah,” Minho said before Newt hit him upside the head. 

“Slim it,” Newt chuckled while Minho shot him daggers. “How are you feeling Evie? Did you get something to eat?” 

“I’m okay, I feel a lot better after eating Frypan’s breakfast.” 

“Good that,” Newt said before looking a little worried, “hopefully you keep feeling okay because Alby wants to see you.” 

“Why?” Thomas asked immediately defensive. 

Minho’s smile also disappeared as he continued, “Both Katrina and Lyn didn’t follow orders during the Crank attack, so they both have to go see Alby and Harriet.” 

I swallowed nervously, I still don’t think Alby liked me. Thomas reached down and grabbed my hand, giving it a little squeeze. 

“You’ll be fine,” he said and gave me an encouraging smile. “I’ll be right outside away since I need to talk to Harriet.” 

“You need to come too Tommy,” Newt interrupted, “Minho put forth your application to be a runner, so he wants to talk to you too.” 

Thomas nodded and I saw a hint of excitement on his face at the prospect of becoming a runner. 

“What are you shanks waiting for?” Minho said as no one was moving, “a shucking invitation? Let’s go.” 

Together the four of us began to walk towards the Keeper Hall.


	24. TWENTY FOUR - NEWT

“You can’t be serious!?” Gally yelled taking a step towards Alby, I was surprised at how strong his reaction was but at the same time I wished I could be right next to him yelling too. “You seriously want to hold a gathering to discuss the punishment of Katrina and Lyn. What the shuck did they do wrong?” 

“They disobeyed my orders,” Alby said calmly from his seat at the head of the circle. 

“They saved my life,” Gally replied, taking another step towards Alby, “there were two Cranks on me and a third one coming. If they hadn’t arrived when they had I could be dead or infected.” 

“I was on my way,” Alby shouted back, he stood up and stared down at Gally. 

Gally however wasn’t backing down, “you arrived too late, I was barely holding the two off me when they showed up.” 

“You two need to calm down,” I said stepping between them. I personally wanted to be yelling at Alby too but I knew that would achieve nothing, it was better to calm the situation down before it spiralled out of control. “We can’t change what happened and we certainly shouldn’t punish people who don’t deserved it,” I said shooting Alby an angry look. 

“Are you challenging my authority?” Alby yelled and he now turned to approach me, “Do you think you could do a better job Newt?” 

“That’s not what I am saying,” I replied trying to calm him down but it was too late. 

“What can you do with that klunk leg of yours anyway,” Alby sneered, “your practically useless.” At that statement everything in the room went silent, I think I even heard Sonya gasp. I froze, letting my arms drop to my sides, my gaze fell to the floor and I refused to look at anyone. I knew what he said was true, since the leg incident I hadn’t been the same, I hadn’t been able to do my job the same way I used to but I still tried. I still attempted to do the best that I could. 

I heard movement and looked up to see Minho charging Alby, he grabbed him by his shirt. Alby stood silently shock on his face as though he had only just realised what he had said. 

“You take that back,” Minho shouted in his face, shaking him by his shirt, “Newt is one of the best people we have in this camp! He is one of the reasons everything runs so smoothly. Do you have any idea how many times he has to go and smooth things over because of things you have said or done? Half the people in the Glade would have left by now, or hell maybe even mutinied if he hadn’t been there singing your praises, talking about how much pressure you put on yourself to keep everyone safe. You don’t get to say that to him!” 

“That’s enough,” Harriet called as she rushed over trying to separate the two of them. 

“Not until this shank apologises to Newt,” Minho was still shouting. 

“Get off of him Minho,” Harriet said, I moved over to help get Minho off of him. As I approached Minho just let go of him and turned to me, his eyes were burning with anger. He turned back to face Alby but Harriet had put herself between the two of them. Alby was standing there, shock still written all over his face. “Newt and Minho why don’t the two of you go and grab, Lyn and Thomas, we will also talk about this Runner business at the gathering.” 

Minho grabbed me and pulled me out of the room with him, he was still shooting an angry glare at Alby. Alby seemed to finally shake himself free of his shock as a devastated look came over his features and he reached out a hand to me. 

“Newt… I’m so sorry,” he said and I thought I heard tears in his voice, “I don’t know why I said it. I didn’t mean it.” 

Yeah, he did, I thought as I allowed Minho to pull me from the room but I just nodded my head and left the suddenly claustrophobic room. 

Once we were outside Minho kept pulling me with him, he pulled me into the trees behind the Keeper Hall and kept pulling me until we were outside the Runner’s secret base. 

“You okay?” Minho finally asked pulling me in front of him so he could inspect my face. 

“I’m fine,” I replied but judging from Minho’s scoff and judgemental look he didn’t believe me. 

“No, you’re not,” Minho sighed, “you know it’s not true right?”

I didn’t answer. A part of me had thought for a while that since I couldn’t do what I did before I must be a little useless. 

“Damn it Newt,” Minho exclaimed throwing his hands above his head and turning away from me, he turned back to me with a determined look on his face. “You know what you did the other night, when you climbed a tree and shot the Cranks. How many did you hit? How many Gladers were saved because of you? Shuck, from what Katrina told me, you even saved that shank Alby’s life.” 

“Okay so I have good aim.” 

“Good aim, shuck Newt you have killer aim, you never miss but it’s more than just being good with a gun. You are the glue that holds us all together. You know how many times Harriet and Alby have gotten into a fight and tension in the Glade is high. It is always you who calms everyone down. It’s also you who manages to get the two of them to talk to each other again and come to a compromise.” Minho stopped and looked away as though he was thinking about whether to say something or not. “I know how you hurt your leg and I know how you were thinking before it happened. Newt you are one of the most important people in this Glade. I swear we all wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.” 

“That’s a lot of praise,” I said trying to laugh it off as a joke. I didn’t like to think about that particular time of my life. “Anyway, I’m fine and now we need to find those two green beans before Alby bugs out even more.” 

Minho must have seen that I really didn’t want this conversation to continue so he nodded his head and lead the way back to the Keeper Hall. We went to the med-jack bay to see if Evie was still there, I was relieved to know that she was awake and well enough to go walking around. 

“They could be anywhere,” Minho complained. 

“Then we will split up,” I said looking around at the many buildings surrounding the med-jack building. “You go check around the barn area and I will check around the houses and showers.” 

Minho just nodded before walking off in his designated area. I must admit I wasn’t look to hard, it was more a mindless wondering as I thought about Alby’s outburst, Minho’s pep-talk, what happened I the past. I had probably walked in circles and I definitely didn’t notice anybody walking around me when I heard Minho call. 

“Found them!” 

Shaking my head to try and clear my thoughts I slowly spun around and saw Minho running over to the two greenies standing in front of the med-jack building. They must have just walked Teresa to work. I began to make my way over to them taking in Evie’s healthy appearance as I went. 

She looked extremely pale in the light and I didn’t know if that was normal or it was because she hadn’t seen the sun in three days. Her hair looked blood red in the light, it was that dark shade of auburn, it was also probably why she looked so extremely pale. I was pleased to see a smile on her face but it fell a bit as she watched me, worry creasing her brow, I hope nothing was wrong. When Minho reached them, she turned to face him and watched on as he hit Tommy on the arm. 

The two boys quickly began talking, Minho putting his hands on his hips before turning to Evie. I watched as her face fell and she looked a little smaller, shrinking in on herself as if intimidated. 

As I drew closer I was able to over hear what Minho was saying, “since I’ve known you, you’ve been nothing but injured. Let’s keep ya healthy for a while, okay.” 

“Sounds like a good idea,” Thomas also chimed in turning to face her. If possible, she managed to make herself smaller. I could tell she was about to open her mouth and most probably apologize, something she didn’t need to do. 

“Knock it off you shanks,” I butted in as I reached her, trying to keep some lightness in my voice. “She’s only just gotten back on her buggin’ feet and you’re already lecturing her.” 

“If it means she will take better care of herself then yeah.” 

Minho was still looking at Evie intently as he spoke so I decided to hit the back of his head lightly. “Slim it,” I said chuckling at the look he gave me. I then turned my attention to Evie, “how are you feeling Evie? Did you get something to eat?” 

“I’m okay, I feel a lot better after eating Frypan’s breakfast,” she replied smiling at me. I must say I felt better when I saw her smiling, “good that.” I just hoped she would be able to keep smiling after meeting with Alby. 

Thinking of Alby brought back the conversation from earlier and I grew worried about what might happen. I personally didn’t even want to go back to the Keeper Hall but I knew the longer we kept Alby waiting the more upset he would get. 

Turning back to Evie I tried to lighten my tone, “hopefully you keep feeling okay because Alby wants to see you.” 

“Why?” Thomas asked immediately defensive and I couldn’t say I was surprised. Alby had avoided them since they arrived at the Glade now he wanted to talk to her, it did seem a little suspicious. 

Minho butted in and I could see a tension in his face as he began speaking. “Both Katrina and Lyn didn’t follow orders during the Crank attack, so they both have to go see Alby and Harriet.” 

I noticed Evie seemed to get a little nervous, Thomas took her hand and tried to encourage her. “You’ll be fine,” he said, “I’ll be right outside away since I need to talk to Harriet.” 

“You need to come too Tommy,” I said remembering Harriet’s last words. Earlier this morning Minho had spoken to Alby about seeing if Tommy could become a Runner. That had led to Minho talking about the night of the Crank attack and Alby remembering Evie and Katrina disobeying his instructions. Tommy seemed to tense up and I thought it would be best if he knew why he had also been summoned, “Minho put forth your application to be a runner, so he wants to talk to you too.” 

Thomas nodded and I saw a fire light behind his eyes, he really seemed to want to be a Runner. 

“What are you shanks waiting for?” Minho said as no one was moving, “a shucking invitation? Let’s go.” 

I sighed and began walking back to the Keeper Hall, I was not looking forward to going back there. I didn’t want to face Alby, I didn’t want to discuss the punishment of Katrina and Evie because I honestly thought there shouldn’t be one. I felt like today was one of those days where I just wanted to be by myself and stew. 

“Are you okay?” a small voice asked breaking me from my thoughts. I turned to see Evie walking next to me. She looked a little hesitant like she didn’t know if she should ask or not. 

“Yeah,” I replied plastering on a fake smile, “everything’s great.” 

She nodded but she didn’t look like she believed me, instead she stared at me for a while more until I got a little uncomfortable and had to look away. 

“I know we’ve just met,” she said speaking in a more confident tone but now she was looking straight ahead and not meeting my eyes. I also thought I caught a light blush dusting her cheeks, “but you’ve already done a lot for me, definitely more than a stranger would deserve. I can probably never repay your kindness but I am a good listener so if you ever want to vent to someone about anything, you can always come to me.” 

I was looking ahead and smiled at her offer, it was kind of her to offer. I knew I would never burden anyone with my troubles but I couldn’t tell her that so instead I simply said, “thank you.” 

I caught her smile in my periphery vision and for two seconds I felt happy. Then we arrived at the Keeper Hall and I felt the happiness fade away. 

Taking a deep breath, I held the door open for Tommy and Evie to walk through. Minho gave me a quick tap on the shoulder, try to comfort me and make me feel strong. I nodded and followed after them.


	25. TWENTY FIVE - LYN

As we walked into the room with all the other Keepers, I felt a tension in the air, as though something had happened that had divided the room. Alby was sitting on his chair at the top of the circle, he looked really upset by something. Sonya was standing a little behind him talking to Harriet in hushed tones but when she noticed Newt walking in she took off in his direction and wrapped him in a hug. Other Keepers were standing around whispering but it all stopped as they noticed Newt. 

Thomas leaned in towards Minho who was shooting Alby a dirty look, “did we miss something?” 

Minho didn’t reply, I turned to see Newt extract himself from Sonya’s embrace before looking around the room. He sighed before standing straight and walking towards the middle of the room. 

“Are we gonna start the buggin’ gathering or not? Everyone take a seat, Tommy and Evie you’re in the middle again.” Newt continued to walk to his seat and sat down besides Alby and Gally. Alby turned to look at him, his mouth opened as though he was about to say something but Newt turned away, Alby looked hurt but his expression was more apologetic. Something must have happened between the two of them. 

Thomas touched my back and began ushering me forward towards the chair in the middle. I looked around to see the familiar faces of the Keepers all watching us. Katrina was there too, her arms crossed a scowl on her face, it must be because both of us were in trouble for breaking the rules. Next to Newt I noticed Gally also appeared angry, he was shooting angry glares at Alby, which surprised me. Every time I had seen Gally I had been on the other side of those looks and Alby had appeared to be held in his high esteem. I wonder what had happened. 

Everyone looked at Alby to start the gathering but he didn’t move. Harriet stood up “We are here today to discuss the punishment of Katrina and Evelyn for disobeying Alby’s orders during the night of the Crank attack. Does anyone wish to say something to support the claim or in their defence?” 

Gally stood up and I admit I was a little worried about what he was going to say, he normally didn’t have nice things to say about me. 

“The gathering recognises Gally,” Newt said, he once again had a notepad out and a pen poised in his hand. 

“I believe I said it earlier,” he said shooting another glare at Alby before turning to face the other Keepers, “there should be no punishment. This whole thing is stupid, Katrina and Lyn saved my life, they may have disobeyed Alby but because of that I am still here and I think if it means saving someone’s life, that’s a good enough reason to ignore Alby.”

“I second that,” Katrina said rising from her chair. 

“Sit down,” Harriet said from her seat at the top of the square, “you don’t get a say, remember, we’re voting about you.” 

“I know,” Katrina said, she stared around the room locking eyes with every other person, “but I still agree with Gally, this whole thing is stupid.” Her voice grew harsh towards the end of her statement and I noticed a couple of the Keepers shiver and divert their gaze. She slowly sat down, but her eyes kept roaming the room, sending a cruel look to any who met her gaze. 

“Does anyone else want to speak?” Harriet said once Katrina was seated. It looked like Katrina’s plan had worked, only Allie and Zart stood up to speak and that was to say they agreed with Katrina and Gally. Both of them looking at her as they spoke trying to get her approval. 

“Alright,” Newt spoke standing up from his seat when it was clear no one else was going to put forth an opinion. “It doesn’t look like we have to vote as the only motion we got was for no punishment.” Newt turned to look at Katrina before his eyes rested on me, a kind smile appeared on his face, “it looks like Katrina and Evie are in the clear and will be receiving no punishment for saving Gally’s life.” 

At that statement it looked like Alby was going to say something but a stern look from Harriet quickly had him closing his mouth. 

“Okay next topic on the agenda,” Newt began turning to look at Minho. 

Minho stood up a smile on his face, “I would like to propose a new candidate to join the Runners.” At this statement murmurs and whispers began to spread throughout the room at who this new candidate could be. Minho was waiting for everyone to stop talking but it didn’t look like it was going to happen. 

“If you guys would stop moving your shucking mouths for a second, he will tell you,” Katrina yelled from her seat, on the opposite side of the room. From the look on her face I would say she already knew who it was going to be. She caught me staring and smiled at me. 

“Thanks Kat,” Minho said before carrying on, “This person has already demonstrated enough skill to rival any of the pervious candidates. He has stood beside me and defeated Cranks, he has survived outside in the scorch for three days while looking out for two other people. He shows courage and intelligence all skills required when taking part in a run.” 

“Enough sugar coating,” Harriet said, “tell us who it is.” 

“I was just getting to that,” Minho said still smiling, “I would like for the green bean Thomas to join the Runners.” At this statement the whole room exploded in to chatter. Some of the Keepers were speaking loudly while some decided to stand up from their chairs to yell their disapproval at Minho. Looking around I saw Minho was yelling back at the opposing Keepers, Katrina was still sitting in her chair, smiling as though she enjoyed the chaos. Clint was speaking to Jasmine who was next to him keeping a calm tone. Gally for once wasn’t yelling anything instead he was speaking to Zart and Frypan was talking to Sonya. I caught sight of Newt and saw him watching Thomas a warm glint in his eyes. He caught me staring and rolled his eyes at everyone’s reaction, I put my hand in front of my face to try and smother a laugh, which had him smiling back at me. 

“Quiet!” Harriet yelled over the top of everyone. “This is a gathering and as such we have rules we follow. Minho has put forward his idea and now it is up to us to calmly state our opinions and then vote. We do not yell across the circle at each other and dissolve into chaos.” 

As Harriet spoke the standing Keepers sat back down in their chairs, looking disgruntled and upset. 

“Okay the first person we will be hearing from is Frypan Keeper of the Cooks,” Newt sounded so bored as once again he had to introduce each Keeper and write down their opinions. 

“While I think the green bean is too new I also think he would make a great addition to the Runners. Did anyone see him fight the Cranks the other night, he was taking them down left and right. I think he will make a valuable asset to the team.” 

“Noted,” Newt said writing in the note pad, he didn’t even bother looking up before he said, “Charlotte Keeper of the Sloppers you’re next.” And so, it continued, going around in the circle saying yes or no, it was actually pretty even so far with Charlotte saying no, Winston also said no but then Katrina and Minho both said yes. It was now Jasmine’s turn to talk. 

Last time she had spoken she had been against us joining the Gladers in fact I believe she had said to just toss us out, so I was worried about what she would say this time. 

“I think the greenie would make a good runner, I saw the bodies of those Cranks and the damage done to them, if he caused any of it he would make a good Runner.” She said surprising nearly everyone in the room. “I also think that the weird sixth sense girl should join too.” 

This sparked up a whole new round of chattering and yelling and I was at the centre of it. This time it wasn’t as orderly as before, even Thomas was up on his feet yelling about that being a bad idea. I looked around the room looking at the chaos, I caught sight of Katrina who was watching me a calculating look in her eye. Once she saw me staring she winked at me and smiled. 

“Slim it,” Alby yelled from the top of the circle. Everyone froze as it was the first words he had spoken since the beginning of the gathering. Alby’s eyes were looking at me and I felt myself once again trying to disappear into the back of the chair. “We are not discussing Lyn joining the Runners.” 

“Alby,” Harriet said in a warning tone, he shot her a look before sitting back down. That was weird. I turned to look at Newt who in turn just shrugged as if he didn’t know what was going on, Sonya had just crossed her arms and shot a stern look at Alby.

“Jasmine,” Harriet said turning back to her, “why would you suggest Lyn join the Runners.” I really wanted to know the answer to this, not that I don’t think being a runner is a good job but it’s a life-threatening job. I don’t know if I really wanted a life-threatening job at the moment, I think I would be fine staying in the kitchen. 

“She used her freaky sixth sense thing to save Gally. Surely, she can use it on runs to save the runners.” 

“But when over uses it she gets sick or passes out,” Frypan said from his side of the circle. 

“It’s still useful,” Jasmine said disregarding my health entirely. 

“Jasmine’s right,” Winston said butting into the conversation. “She would help ensure the safety of everyone if she can sense when there are other people or Crank’s around.” 

“This is not what we are discussing,” Newt said, looking over at him I saw he was gripping the note pad tightly in his right hand, his knuckles were white. He looked a little angry as he stared between Jasmine and Winston, something I had never seen before. “The topic we are discussing is whether or not Thomas joins the runners, Evelyn is not a part of this.” 

“Actually,” Harriet interjected, “I also thought it would be beneficial to make Lyn a runner. I was going to suggest it after we voted on Thomas, it would make things easier if we added her in now.” 

“You can’t be serious!” Newt yelled, I had never seen him like this before but I could tell what his anger was masking, worry and fear. “She has spent the past three days in the med-jack building. We didn’t even know if she would wake up.” 

“But she has,” Winston answered back, “and she looks fine, maybe it was a one-off thing.” 

“Enough,” Harriet called as once again the gathering had dissolved into disorder. “We will vote about it, majority rules as normal but for now we need to keep going around the circle. Jasmine had you finished?” 

Jasmine was sitting in her seat, she nodded. 

“Newt,” Harriet said signalling for him to carry on. Newt was still shaking his head in anger. “Newt.” Harriet said again and he continued, he didn’t sound bored anymore though, he sounded mad. 

“Clint, Keeper of the Med-jacks.” 

We continued around the circle and I was listening intently as now my fate was going to be decided too. Eventually it was time to vote. 

“All those in favour of Thomas joining the Runners, raise your hand,” Harriet said from her place at the top of the circle. I watched as eleven people out of fourteen raised their hands. 

“Thomas is a Runner,” Harriet said before continuing, “all those in favour of Evelyn joining the runners raise your hands.” I looked around the circle butterflies flying around in my stomach. Frypan didn’t raise his hand but Charlotte and Winston did. What surprised me was when Katrina raised her hand, she looked at me apologetically but still she raised her hand. Minho, Clint, Gally and Sonya also didn’t raise their hands but there was still eight against six meaning majority won. 

“Lyn is a Runner.” Harriet announced, “gathering adjourned.”


	26. TWENTY SIX - NEWT

People began to leave the room, I sat there looking at Evie, she was still in her chair and seemed to be in shock. I turned towards Alby who didn’t look happy with the outcome but he still wasn’t saying anything. Harriet looked pleased with the outcome a small smile on her face, I felt my blood boil. 

I couldn’t believe what had just happened, Evie was never a candidate for being a Runner, in fact she already had a job, a nice safe job, one that wouldn’t require her to exhaust herself to the point of collapsing for three days. 

I don’t know why I felt so strongly about her but I did and I knew she needed to be safe. We had never had a female runner before, not for lack of want but because in certain situations they lacked the physical strength to protect themselves. Shuck even most of the guys weren’t strong enough. To be a runner you had to be the best of the best. I knew I wasn’t winning any muscle building competitions but I was a good shot and normally I managed to fire off a round before the danger got to close. That’s the only reason I was still allowed to go on runs but I wasn’t often allowed to leave the bunker once we arrived. I was only allowed to keep watch and be on snipper duty. 

How the other Keeper’s thought it was okay to send Evie out there when all she possessed is a sixth sense, was beyond me. I watched as Tommy and Minho approached Evie and pulled her from her seat, she still looked shocked, the two of them began to move her towards the door.

I ran a hand through my hair and went to face off against Harriet. 

“Are you out of your mind?” I said interrupting her conversation with Sonya. Sonya it seemed was having a similar conversation. 

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Harriet sighed, “with Lyn out there we stand a better chance of being able to protect ourselves against other people and Cranks. We’ve had too many go out on a run and not come back, maybe this way everyone will come back.” 

“That’s too much pressure to put on one person,” Sonya yelled, “especially one that has just woken up from a coma from the last time she helped us.” 

“It’s too late,” Harriet said raising her hands in defeat, “the Keeper’s have voted and the majority agree with me.” 

I couldn’t shucking believe what I was hearing. Sonya shot me a similar look of disbelief before turning away to speak with Frypan. I had, had enough I just wanted to get out of the building. Today so far had not gone well. 

Walking outside I saw Minho and Tommy standing around talking to each other, Minho was undoubtedly filling Tommy in on what being a runner involved. Glancing around them I noticed that Evie wasn’t there. 

I jogged over. 

“I’m telling you, it’s fine we probably won’t go for another run for a couple of weeks, at least a month,” I overheard Minho saying to Tommy. Resting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder to offer support. “She’s going to go down in history though, the first female runner we’ve had.” 

“Did you get them to change their minds?” Tommy asked as I arrived, he had a desperate look in his eyes. I shook my head, I didn’t want to say it out loud. “It’s too dangerous for her!” Tommy yelled while turning around and kicking a small tree stump.

“Hey,” Minho exclaimed pulling him back around to face us, “what did the tree every do to you.” He was trying to make a joke but seeing as Tommy was in no mood Minho quickly sobered up, “I’m sorry but she’ll be alright. We will never leave her alone okay. We look after each other out there.” 

“Speaking of never leaving her alone,” I asked looking around, “where is she?” 

“She said she needed some time to think and wondered off,” Minho said, “she also said under no circumstances was Thomas to go looking for her.” 

Tommy made a face as Minho laughed, “dude she’s like a sister to me. I don’t want her to go out into the Scorch again. I promised to keep her safe, being a Runner is the worst job for safety.” 

“True that,” Minho said before draping an arm over both of our shoulders, “Come on, lets go get something to eat, I’m starving.” 

Minho began to lead us in the direction of the cafeteria but I ducked out from his grip, he shot me a worried look. 

“I’m good,” I replied quickly, “I just need to go check on Sonya,” I said lying through my teeth. I just needed some time by myself, after the morning I had and I was worried Alby might be there not that I was avoiding him. I just didn’t want to listen to him apologise again. 

“Sure thing,” Minho said nodding and I knew he saw right through me. I turned around and began walking in the direction of the Keeper Hall before making a left and walking into the trees. There was a small clearing in the trees, near the mountain wall, not many people went there. Long ago it had become my secret spot, the place I went when I needed to think, or get away from everyone. The worst thing about being second in command of an enclosed space you never really got any privacy or alone time. 

I moving forward in the direction of the clearing. The light from the sun had vanished and I had to look down to watch the roots growing along the ground, if you didn’t pay attention they would wrap around your ankle and trip you. The sun began to break back through the trees and I knew I was getting closer to the clearing. 

Finally, I broke through the line of the trees and was standing in my secret place, looking around at the trees and all the different flowers growing on the ground I froze. Staring back at me were two bright green eyes, Evie was sitting with her back against one of the trees off to the side. 

“I thought this was my secret place,” I said smiling at her. 

“Sorry,” she replied and started to get up, “I can go.” 

“No, no” I said quickly my hands reaching out as though to stop her, “erm, it’s okay but do you mind if I join you?” 

A small smile formed on her face, “that’s okay. I was just using the peace and quiet to do some thinking.”

“Yeah about what?” I asked moving to sit at the tree across from her. I was pretty sure I knew what she was thinking about though. 

“Being a runner,” she replied pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. 

“Do you want to be a runner?” I asked pulling one of my legs, the one that didn’t hurt, up to my chest, mimicking her. 

“I don’t know,” she said and sighed before going off on a rant. “I mean no one asked my opinion on the matter, what if I didn’t want to be a Runner. I mean truthfully, I had never thought about it. Sonya had mentioned that it was hard to be a runner and that you had to be the best of the best which I certainly am not. It’s just because I’ve got this weird ability.”

“That’s not true,” I said wanting to make her feel as though she was more than just a weird ability. “It may be your sixth sense that allows you to know when and where people are coming from but it’s your actions on top of that which made you a candidate for being a Runner. Tommy told me you sensed a Crank coming for him and pushed him out the way, the other night you realised Gally was in trouble and ran to help him. You didn’t have to do these things, you could have just watched but you acted on this and risked your life to help others. That’s pretty impressive” 

“I couldn’t stand by and do nothing,” she mumbled under her breath and I felt a smile pull at my lips. 

“But other people might have,” I replied. 

“But at the moment, I personally would like to have a little bit more safety and security. It’s something that I have been without for so long, what with WICKED and whatever happened to me before hand,” she glanced at her wrist before continuing, “the Glade promised to give me that. But now to have to go beyond the mountains, where there is Cranks and WICKED and other evil groups. I don’t know how I felt about that, the safe secure feeling sort of went away.” 

“You don’t have to be a runner if you don’t want to. You can keep that safe and secure feeling. I could try to talk to Alby and Harriet.” 

“But what if by going I could help, even in a small way,” she said in a small voice, “shouldn’t I go if I know that I could help.” 

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” I said again. 

I could see she was wavering and I decided I needed to tell her something, something that would highlight the dangers of going on a run. 

“I’m going to tell you a story, so get comfortable, we might be here a while but hopefully this will help you make a decision.”

She nodded and moved her around until she got comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going to learn some more about Newt's past in the next chapter :D


	27. TWENTY SEVEN (ONE YEAR AGO) - NEWT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback to an event that happened a year ago.

“I’m telling you,” Minho said banging his hand on the table in the middle of the room, “last time we went to section nine the place was nearly swarming in Cranks it was shucking luck we managed to get out last time. We should go somewhere else.” 

“We need to go to section nine,” Alby said, “the supermarket there is nearly completely stocked.” 

“That’s because it’s in the middle of a Crank city and no one is stupid enough to go there,” Minho argued taking a step away from the table towards Alby.

“And I’m telling you we can do it,” Alby spoke again, his voice lower as he took a step closer. I was still investigating the table, where else could we go. I had to agree with Minho on this, the place had been crawling with Cranks last time.

“Is it your goal to kill us all?” Minho asked. 

“Are you forgetting who is in charge?” 

“Are you forgetting who is in charge of the Runners?” There was now only an inch between Alby and Minho. 

“Alby, I have to admit Minho’s right,” I said walking closer to the two of them, hoping I could stop them if a fight broke out. Instead he turned on me. 

“We are running out of food,” Alby yelled at me. “Since we joined with Harriet’s group we are racing through the few resources we had and all the seeds we planted are still a while away from being ready. We need to raid that supermarket in section nine.” 

“I know we’re running out of resources but there has to be another place we can go to,” I said turning back to the map. 

“I wish there was but there isn’t. It’s the only option.” 

“Okay so what’s your plan for dealing with the Cranks then?” Minho asked crossing his hands over his chest, glaring at Alby. 

“We take more people with us,” Alby said, “more guys with weapons, everyone is in a pair, no ones left alone.” 

“So, you want more casualties?” Minho said once again undermining Alby. 

“We will leave in two hours,” Alby ignored him, “I will gather some more people.” Alby turned and left made his way out of the room. 

“He is going to kill us all,” Minho said before he too turned and walked out of the room. 

This was going to be one of the hardest runs not just because of where we are going but because of the tension between those two. I sighed as I made my way to the weapon room. If we were going to section nine I was going to make sure I had all the ammo I would need and maybe I would take an extra machete or two. 

Eventually we were all packed between two cars, ten boys all jammed in together, it was not a fun ride. I had managed to get the passenger seat beside Minho, in the back of the car we had managed to cram Ben, Peter and Aiden. Thankfully Alby was driving the other car with Gally in the passenger seat along with Stephen, Dimitri and Lee in the back. 

The car was filled with nervous energy as everyone knew where we were going. Minho made sure to tell everyone who had volunteered to come along exactly what they were getting themselves into but Alby had basically refused to let anyone back out. 

“We need to get in to the bunker quickly,” Minho said as he drove, “there won’t be time to go on a run today, it will be night soon and more Cranks will be out. If we are going to do this we are going to do it my way and hopefully everyone makes it out.” 

I nodded in agreement while looking in the rear-view mirror at the fear plastered on the other guys faces. 

Making it to the bunker was easy, it was on the outskirts of the city. The hardest part would be tomorrow when we have to get to the centre of the city.

“Early night tonight,” Minho said after we had eaten, “gonna need all your strength tomorrow.” The ten of us slowly shuffled off to our rooms. 

“I really hope everything goes well tomorrow,” Minho whispered to me as we made our way into one of the makeshift bedrooms. There was nothing I could say in reply, I just prayed everything went well as I laid down on my mattress, soon I was asleep. 

The next day came to soon. 

“Okay we will park about half an hour away and split up into groups of two, hopefully as smaller groups we will be able to get by undetected. I would have liked bigger groups but at least you will always have someone to watch your back,” Minho explained to us all before we had to leave the bunker.

“Alright pairs are as follows,” Minho said and began pointing at boys and pairing them off. “Newt you’re with Alby, Gally you’re with me. Okay let’s go,” Minho finished, the room was silent as we all made our way towards the two Jeeps. 

The drive went by quickly and quietly, no one was talking. I swear you couldn’t even hear anybody breathing. Everyone was on high alert staring out the windows making sure there were no Cranks in sight. As we drew closer to where we would have to park and continue on foot you could feel the nervous tension rise, it was almost suffocating. I pulled the car to the side of the road, I could see the supermarket in the distance but I still didn’t want to leave the safety of the car. 

“Everyone out,” Alby called and I realised even though we had stopped moving and the engine was turned off, no one in the car had made any attempt to exit the vehicle. I reached around behind me and pulled my bag forward onto my knees. As a nervous habit I checked the rifle over, making sure it was still working, I checked the amount of ammo I had, I made sure the second machete was within easy reach. I tied an extra knife on to my belt, I knew I was being overly cautious but I would prefer to be thought of as overly cautious than dead. Knowing I was as prepared as I was ever going to be, I jumped out of the Jeep and pulled the backpack onto my back. 

The ten of us gathered together in a small group. It felt ominous as though everyone knew something was going to happen but still Alby couldn’t be dissuaded, we were here now may as well go through with it. 

“Let’s go,” Minho said walking next to me he clapped me over the shoulder, a silent message of be careful before we split up in our teams and began making our way towards the supermarket on foot. 

Alby and I made steady progress, hiding behind abandoned buildings and cars when necessary. Slowly peering around to see if there was danger ahead. We did see a couple of Cranks wondering around the streets but we managed to make it past them unseen. 

It felt like an eternity before we managed to reach the Supermarket. We were supposed to find a spot to hide and wait for the others to appear, I tried not to worry about how we were the only pair to have arrived but I knew we had taken the most direct route. Eventually, Gally and Minho arrived, Dimitri and Lee right behind them. It took another five minutes before Ben and Stephen arrived and a further five minutes before we managed to catch sight of Aiden and Peter. The ten of us had all managed to arrive safely, well that was step one out of the way. 

“Once we are in we split up into our pairs again, go down aisles, be methodical, grab only what we need. Speed is of the essence so don’t grab anything unnecessary,” Minho was bent down on a knee in the middle of the circle relaying our objective and what we had to do. He looked at everyone in turn, a stern look in his eyes as if daring anyone to argue with him. He was met with nothing but grim faces. 

“Let’s do this,” he said getting up and walking through the broken glass doors. 

Stepping inside we tried to be as quiet as we could but with every foot fall you could hear the breaking of the glass on the floor under our feet. Together Alby and I moved towards the furthest aisle in the store, where they kept the canned food. In practiced precision we began stuffing our backpacks with the food we would need. We kept moving trying to be as quick as possible. 

“I told you we had to come here,” Alby said a small smile on his face, “I was right, look at all this food.” He was currently checking the use by date on a tin of canned fruit.  
“Don’t count your lucky stars yet mate,” I said in a hushed tone, I was still worried, “we’ve got to get back yet.” 

Alby began to reply when I hushed him, I thought I had heard a noise, “did you hear that?” I asked him as my head shot to the side, eyes darting around trying to find the source of the noise. 

“I didn’t hear anything,” Alby said before getting up and walking towards the end of the aisle, to investigate. 

“Stop,” I whispered at him, I quickly put down my backpack, pulling my rifle over my shoulder and into my arms as I began to follow after him. Alby looked around the corner and jumped back, his eyes wide. Turning around he began to quickly make his way back to me. 

Grabbing a hold of my shirt and pulling me with him he began to speak quietly and quickly. “we need to get the others and get out now.” 

“Shuck,” I whispered knowing immediately he must have seen a Crank. I pulled myself from his grip and straightened up, hurrying to fall into step with him. “How many did you see?”

“Too many, there were way too many and if we start shooting at them we will draw others too us.” Alby was rushing to pull on his backpack, he was so pre-occupied he didn’t realise there was a tin on the floor. I watched in horror as he kicked it and it went flying into a precariously stacked mountain of other canned products. A mountain that was now collapsing, creating a rush of noise. 

“Shuck,” Alby said as we heard the rush of feet moving towards us the Cranks all clearly coming to investigate. “Run,” Alby yelled and took off down the aisle. Swinging his backpack onto his back, the two of us sprinted up the aisle, Alby leading the way, we could hear the Cranks screeching and moving behind us. I put on a burst of speed, trying to get out of the aisle before they appeared. 

Alby who was also sprinting had already made it to the end of the aisle but I watched as he judged the angle of the turn wrong and ended up knocking into the shelving unit, causing the shelving to swing precariously back and forth and the tins it was holding to fall to the floor and smash. 

“Shuck,” I muttered as now I had to not only beat the Crank’s coming down the aisle I also had to make it out before the shelving unit fell and blocked my exit. I looked down and ran as fast as I could, trying to beat all the impending dangers. Suddenly something under my foot gave way and I fell to the floor. I landed in a puddle of syrup that had leaked from the tins. Looking up I saw the shelving unit falling towards me, I tried to get my feet under me and leap out of the way but I managed to just push up from the ground and do a weird frog hop. 

I heard a bang as the shelving unit fell to the floor at the same time I let out a strangled scream as pain erupted down one of my legs. Looking down my body, I saw that one of my legs had been crushed beneath the metal shelves, pinning me to the spot. Cranks running down the aisle at me, pain shooting through me, I couldn’t see Alby anywhere.  
I leaned forward and tried to lift the metal shelf off of me but it was too heavy and I was in an awkward position. Realising I wasn’t going to be able to move the shelf I looked around for the rifle that had fallen out of my hands as I had fallen. It was a little behind me, stretching out it tried to reach it, my fingertips brushed the handle but I couldn’t reach it. I tried to pull my leg out, biting my lip against the pain in my leg as I attempted to pull it out. It barely budged, I tried reaching back again to get the rifle and this time I managed to get a few more fingers too it, I used them to knock it towards me. It took everything I had to pull my rifle back in front of me, ready to shoot the Cranks barrelling down the aisle towards me. 

“Where’s Newt?” I heard Minho’s voice call from the distance, “where the shuck is Newt?” I couldn’t focus on that anymore, the Cranks were half way to me, I started firing off rounds of ammo into them. Hitting each one on the mark, the only problem was the sound of gunfire would probably draw other Cranks’ to the building, hopefully the others would get out soon. 

I watched as Crank after Crank fell down as my bullets hit them square in the head. I knew I would run out of ammo soon, there were too many of them. 

“Newt,” I heard Minho call close by but I couldn’t turn to look at him, all my focus had to be on the Cranks still charging towards us. More echoes of gunfire joined mine as Minho and Gally appeared on either side of me and I stopped shooting. Quickly the two of them lifted the metal shelf and another set of hands grabbing my shoulders pulled me free, I screamed in agony.

“Shuck,” I heard Gally mutter as he took in the appearance of my leg. I was panting from the pain, only managing to look down and catch glimpses of the damage. There was blood free flowing and possibly bone protruding in certain places. In any case it was clear I wouldn’t be able to run back to the car. 

“Quick,” Minho said pulling my right arm over his shoulder, Gally did the same with the left. I was soon hoisted up between them, the two practically dragging me towards the exit. 

“Everyone sticks together, no splitting up,” Minho called instructions as we began to move towards the exit. “Just run, we make it to the car we drive straight back to the Glade.”

I don’t remember a lot from the journey back to the car as I faded in and out of consciousness. I do remember more yells from the Gladers and a hoard of Cranks surrounding us at one point. I don’t remember the car trip back home to the Glade but I do remember what happened once we got there. I was rushed straight to the med-jack building with a couple of the other boys and Alby was left explaining what went wrong and how come Stephen didn’t make it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this chapter, I am sorry if you think i'm making Alby out to be a bad guy, I don't mean to it just happens that way... sorry. 
> 
> Let me know what you think, thanks for reading :D


	28. TWENTY EIGHT - LYN

“Since then we’ve never gone back to section nine and Minho has been in charge of planning all our missions. After all there is a reason he was made Keeper of the Runners,” Newt said finishing his story. 

I felt tears fill my eyes. It was such a horrible story, many were injured, one was killed, to have lived through that ordeal must have been hard on them. But maybe if I was there at the time and I was a runner, they might have pulled through. I could have told them about the Cranks in the building, they might have aborted the mission and gone somewhere else. 

During the story Newt had lost himself to the memory, zoning out and staring off into the distance. At times he would be quiet, his eyes shut as though it was too hard to talk about at other times it seemed like there was a simmering anger in his eyes. Having now finished the story he sat across from me, his eyes appeared clear as he looked back at me. 

“How bad were you injured?” I asked hesitantly, knowing he might not what to talk about it. 

He sighed and leaned his head back against the tree, for a second, I thought I had pushed him too far and he wasn’t going to answer. 

He opened his eyes, a tired look in them before speaking, “my leg was crushed in several different spots but with our limited medical knowledge and resources, there wasn’t much they could do besides splint it. My ankle had the worst damage and I was going around on crutches for a few months but eventually it healed as best it could.” 

“How was anyone else? No one was too seriously hurt, were they?” 

“I was probably the worst, with the longest recovery rate but everyone else mainly had cuts and bruises except for Aiden who had been injured pretty badly, originally we thought he might not pull through but he was lucky.” 

It fell silent in the clearing but it wasn’t awkward it was comfortable as we both got lost with our thoughts. Listening to everything Newt had said I knew that I had to become a runner. If I could stop something like this from happening again it would all be worth it. 

“Evie,” Newt said pulling me from my thoughts, “if you don’t want to be a runner. If it scares you or you’re worried about it you don’t have to do it.” He looked like he was about to go on so I thought it would be good to interrupt to tell him what I was thinking. 

“I think I should do it,” I said quickly. 

Newt did a double take before stuttering out, “what? why?”

“If I was there that day I might have been able to help,” I said fiddling with my hands wrapped around my knees, not meeting his eyes in case I upset him. 

“I’m not so sure,” Newt answered in a sigh. 

“If I was there do you not think I might have been able to tell you guys not to go into the supermarket? I could have told you to go back. I don’t know I could have done something.  
Now I can do something, I could stop something like this from happening ever again.” 

“Don’t put that pressure on yourself,” Newt said firmly while looking over at me, “you can’t think like that as things do go wrong, completely unpredictable things we can’t plan for.” 

“Things like Cranks appearing?” I questioned. 

Newt seemed to know where I was going and I caught him reluctantly nodding, “that is one of the more common issues.” 

“I can help with that,” I said eagerly crawling onto my knees and pointing at myself, “I can help make sure the runners know when Cranks or other people are going to appear and if I focus harder I can even tell you who and from where.” 

“I know that,” Newt said also getting on his knees, the two of us were unconsciously moving towards each other, “but just because you have this ability doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to go out there and put yourself in danger.” 

“I know,” I said quietly my arms falling to my side, “but Thomas is going to go out there, I have to help him come home safe. Plus, now that I’m in the Glade and meeting everyone I’m going to want to protect them, I want to make sure Minho’s safe and you are safe and hell, I even want to make sure Gally comes back safe.” 

I was breathing hard after I went on my little speech, my hands were shaking with the adrenaline pumping through my blood. I guess I had made my decision. 

Newt simply nodded, before reaching forward and grabbing my hands in his, “I understand what you are saying but you can’t forget to look out for yourself. Tommy told me how you pushed him out the way of a Crank, the other night you ran into a battle with Cranks to save Gally, someone who had only been mean to you.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “from what I’ve seen you’ve got no sense of self-preservation. You are important to and you are more than your ability, you have to make sure you are safe.” 

There was an intense look in Newt’s eyes and I felt myself nodding at everything he said. 

As if we both realised how we were sitting, the spell we were under seemed to be broken and we were brought back to reality. The two of us were kneeling together, his hands holding mine. It was in sync that Newt let go of my hands and I pulled them back. 

“Well,” he said with an awkward chuckle, “it might be time to get back to the others. I’m sure Tommy is worried about what you are up to.” He stood up reaching out a hand to help me up, I took it. 

Once up I brushed the dirt of my pants and realised I might want to go and take another shower, the last one I had was three days ago. Oh my god! Realisation dawned on me, did I smell? It should have been my first thought when I had woken up after I had satisfied my need for food. Instead I had been called to a gathering.

“Are you okay Evie?” Newt asked, I looked up to see he had made his way towards the edge of the trees. 

“I’m fine,” I replied and felt embarrassed, I desperately needed a shower before I met with anyone else in the Glade. That would be a terrible impression to make when meeting someone for the first time. “I’m coming.” 

I followed after Newt, following in his footsteps. He was considerate enough to hold some of the lower branches out of my way and occasionally offered me his hand to help me over one of the larger tree roots. 

It didn’t take long before we were back among the other Gladers, the moment we appeared I heard my name called and turned to see Katrina rushing over to me. Her hair was flying out of her ponytail in every direction, her eyes looked a little frantic as she raced over to me. Newt saluted me in farewell and walked off. 

“Lyn,” Katrina said when she caught me her hands grabbing my lower arms in a desperate grip. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I want to say sorry. I know you were happy to be working in the kitchen and I know you never said anything about being a runner. I just thought it would be safer if you went with them, it would help ensure there was less danger and that they all came home. I just want them all to come home.” 

“I’m not mad,” I reassured her. 

She looked at me, I thought I saw worry in her eyes, “you’re not? Are you sure? I would totally understand if you were.” 

“I’m not,” I said again pulling my arms from her grip and placing a hand on top of hers, “I promise. I talked it over with Newt and came to the conclusion that I want to be a runner. I want to help ensure people come back.” 

“Oh, Thank God,” Katrina said and did something unexpected. She pulled me into a hug. “You don’t know how worried I was. I thought I might have ruined our friendship. This might surprise you but I don’t have a lot of female friends here and I didn’t want to jeopardize the beginning of our friendship.” 

I was surprised to hear Katrina speaking of friendship. I had only spent a couple of hours with her the night of the attack but I suppose we did run into battle together and survive getting punished together. Teresa had also told me that Katrina had visited me several times in the med-jack building. Teresa thought she was weird because each visit consisted of Katrina seeing if I was still asleep, when she saw I was still sleeping she would just walk off and visit again later.

“Everything’s fine,” I said patting her on the back. I remembered I desperately needed a shower so I decided to make a playful comment in order to pull away, “I’m a bit upset about not being in the kitchen though. I was happy to get a job.” 

“You can still work there.” 

“I can?” I replied, feeling my eyebrows rise. 

“Yeah,” Katrina continued and we began to make our way back towards the centre of the camp. “The runners don’t always go on run’s and no one’s allowed to just sit around the Glade so most of them have another job as well. Except for Minho because he is the Keeper. When you’re not on a run or planning a run, you can work in the kitchen.” 

“Really,” I said feeling much more excited. 

Katrina was about to reply when someone called out to her and signalled her over. “I’m sorry,” she sighed, “I’ve got to get back to work. Life as Keeper of the Machina never stops,” she laughed as she ran away. I just waved after her, feeling a little confused but happy to know there was someone in the camp who considered me a friend. Turning around I caught sight of Newt talking to Zart, they were discussing something intently. As if sensing someone was watching him, Newt turned to look at me and offered me a small smile. 

I smiled back at him and waved, maybe I had a couple of people I could call friends. That thought made me smile as I made my way to the shower room.


	29. TWENTY NINE - NEWT

“There ya are you Shank,” I turned my head slightly to see Minho pulling out a chair and sitting next to me in the cafeteria. It was dinner time at the Glade. Everyone had finished their jobs for the day, the weather was so nice the outdoor seats had been set up and the fire pit lit. It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere, “haven’t seen ya since this morning. Did you manage to catch up with Sonya?” he asked winking. 

“Yep,” I said stabbing my fork into a carrot. I knew he was teasing me. 

“She’s all good?” 

“She’s fine.” 

“How are you feeling?” 

“What?” I said looking up confused. 

“You know the whole…” Minho didn’t finish his sentence instead he started scratching his wrist. Realisation soon dawned on me, he meant my wrist. I had actually been a little worried about it because it didn’t seem to be healing. It had been four days since it happened and yet the bloody half crescent indents were still there. 

I leaned into to relay my worries to Minho when the sound of another chair scraping against the floor made me straighten up and look over to see Tommy place his tray on the table before sitting down. 

“Sup greenie?” Minho said enthusiastically, “have fun with Kat today?” 

“Urg, she’s like a slave driver. I never did anything right. Pass me this, get me this, that’s not right. She never explained what I had to get her. She just said the thingy. What the hell is a thingy?” 

I shared a glance with Minho before both of us burst into laughter, Tommy looked at us in confusion. 

“What?” he asked but we were still chuckling, “what?” 

“No one works well with Kat,” I said trying to catch my breath, “she works best alone. There’s only like two people who are considered Machina and both of them tend to do odd jobs that keep them away from her and the Jeeps.” 

“Well no one told me that,” Tommy grumbled before stabbing a piece of potato and throwing it into his mouth. 

“Don’t worry green bean tomorrow you’ll be doing something else,” Minho said cheerfully.

“I thought I was a runner now?” Tommy asked confused, “why do I need another job?”

“A runner doesn’t go out every day, when we stay at the camp we need something to do to keep us busy. Newt’s second in command so he just floats between jobs although he spends a lot of time in the gardens. Gally of course is Keeper of the builders when he isn’t on a run with us. We normally take Clint or Jeff with us when we do a longer run because it’s safer to take a med-jack with you.” 

“What about you?” Tommy asked pointing his fork at Minho.

“Me,” Minho said a little dramatically and I rolled my eyes already predicting his answer. “I am the Keeper of the Runners. I have to many responsibilities to have another job.” 

“But Newt’s busy and he has another job.” 

“Yeah but he is second in command, he needs to show his face and come across as friendly and helpful. Me, I come across as much more mysterious. I’ve got the tall, dark and handsome thing going for me, if I help out more I’d ruin my image. The girls all dig it.” 

Tommy snorted and I chuckled, “they do?” 

“Oh, slim it ya slinthead. You wouldn’t know how to attract the other sex if you tried. You come across too much as the friend next door.” 

I threw a piece of potato at him, so quick he couldn’t dodge before the food fight could escalate Tommy asked another question. 

“Did you manage to get Lyn out of being a runner?” Tommy looked at me as he spoke. 

I looked down and shook my head, “Harriet wouldn’t listen to me and besides now she wants to be one.” 

“What!? I thought you were going to talk her out of it”! Minho exclaimed hitting me in the arm. 

“I tried but I think I ended up talking her into it,” I said in shame. My plan to tell her the story had completely backfired. 

“Oh great,” Tommy said picking up his tray and standing up. 

“Where are you going?” Minho asked looking at him in confusion. 

“I’ve got to go find her and talk her out of it,” he said walking away. I watched as he walked towards Lyn who was sitting in front of the fire pit with Kat and Teresa. Evie’s head was thrown back in laughter, the fire light shining on her face creating a glow that made her look ethereal. 

“Who are you staring at with that dumbstruck look?” Minho asked pulling my attention from Evie. 

“What are you on about?” I said turning back to my dinner. 

“I know you weren’t looking at Kat like that since you’ve never looked at her like that before so it must be one of the greenies. I pray you weren’t looking at Thomas like that which leaves the two girls. You like one of them!” 

“I do not.” 

Minho chuckled a mischievous look on his face, “yeah ya do. Let’s see, you haven’t spent that much time with Teresa so I’m leaning towards Evelyn. Am I right? Do you like Lyn?” 

“She’s a lovely person and I enjoy talking to her. She’s probably going to make a great friend.” 

“Sure,” Minho said rolling his eyes. 

“Slim it,” I said not wanting to continue the conversation. 

“Okay, okay,” Minho replied holding his hands up in defeat, “but look man, you can talk to me about anything. You know, that right?” 

I nodded appreciating everything he said before leaning back in my chair. “I don’t have anything to say about it though so change the topic.” 

“Fine,” Minho sighed. “What did you talk to her about that managed to talk her into being a runner? Before you talked to her she seemed to be unsure about it.” 

“Believe it or not I told her the story of section nine.” 

Minho dropped his fork, “seriously? You told her that story? You never tell people that story. You hate people bring the whole thing up. No one can talk about that story.” 

“I didn’t say it was easy and I originally wasn’t going to say anything but I wanted to outline the dangers that were involved when being a runner. I wanted her to know what could happen.” 

“How’d she take it?” 

“She said if she was there maybe that wouldn’t have happened.” I answered before putting down my fork and leaning back in my chair, my hands linked together behind my head as I tried to look nonchalant. I still didn’t like thinking about the past events.

“She’s probably right,” Minho agreed in a small voice. 

“I know but is it fair to put her in danger just because she has this ability?” 

“Is there even a right answer to that question?” Minho replied, “I suppose as long as she wants to go it’s alright. If we were forcing her against her will that would have been wrong but if it’s her choice, it’s her choice.” 

“You’re right,” I sighed, I knew he was right I still didn’t have to like it though. 

“Truth of the matter is the two of them will need to be trained around the Glade first. Practice running laps, teach them some basic self-defence, go through some simple weapon training. It will be a while before they’re actually out in the Scorch. We’ve got time to prepare them.” 

“Again, I know you’re right.” 

“I almost always am,” Minho said a smug smile pulling at his mouth, “it gets tiring eventually but I can’t help it. I’m just too awesome.” 

The both of us shared a look before we burst into laughter. It wasn’t long before we settled down and finished dinner, our conversation turning to much lighter topics. After our meals were eaten, the two of us put our tray’s away and walked towards the firepit. It was far to early to go to bed, only the early hours of the evening, still plenty of time to sit down and join in the festivities in the centre of the Glade.

We were making our way towards one of the wooden benches when Gally caught up with us. 

“Guys, we’ve got to have a runner’s meeting tonight,” he said shocking both of us. We had just come back from a run a few days ago. There was no way we were out of supplies. 

“What? Why?” Minho asked perplexed. 

“I talked to Alby about how we need to fix some of the damage done by the Crank attack. The barn needs some more wood and other building materials in order to be fixed properly along with a couple of the animal pens. We can’t keep all the animals in together for long otherwise they might attack each other. We also need to get some material to build a house for the three greenies. Zart mentioned that some of the plants were stomped on as well so we need to try and find replacements and Kat would like to get more fuel for the Jeeps.” 

“That’s one long shucking list,” Minho sighed raking a hand over his face, “how come Kat never mentioned the fuel problem when we went on the last run?” 

“She said she didn’t factor in our driving Ben out to section one.” 

“When does Alby want us to go,” I asked worried about his answer. 

“Tomorrow,” Gally looked almost apologetic, “and he wants the greenies to go too.” 

“You can’t be serious,” Minho groaned, “they’ve got no training!”

“Honestly, he didn’t say take the greenies,” Gally said and seemed a little angered, I wasn’t entirely sure it was at us though. “He said take Lyn she would be useful no matter what but I figured Thomas wouldn’t let her go with out him and he refused to budge on the subject of Lyn even though I spent all of dinner arguing with him.” 

“He can’t be shucking serious,” Minho growled, “look you two gather the runners. I’m going to go and talk to Alby, see if I can change his mind about going on a run so soon. I will meet you all in the Runners building to tell you the outcome,” he finished speaking and without waiting for a reply jogged off. 

“Shuck,” I muttered under my breath. The greenies weren’t ready for a run, Evie had only been out of the med-jack building for a day. Hopefully Minho would be able to change Alby’s mind with out a fight breaking out. All I could do was follow his orders and gather the runners. 

“I’ll get Jeff,” Gally said and walked away. 

Sighing I turned around and went looking for Tommy and Evie. This was turning into a terrible week.


	30. THIRTY - LYN

Newt had taken Thomas and I into the separate Runner Building behind the Keeper Hall. The building was small, wooden and circular looking more like a shabby hut than any of the other buildings in the Glade. There were no windows and only one entrance. 

“Welcome to the Runner’s building,” Newt said as he walked into the building and began to light candles that had been spread throughout the room. The room appeared much smaller than it was because of the massive table in the middle that was covered in maps. Looking around the walls you could see loads of maps stuck up, all of them seemed well used, some covered in writing, some torn at edges. It looked quite impressive. It seemed as though a lot of work had gone into making the notes and markings. 

The map on the table seemed to be a massive one covering most of the land around us. Looking closer at the map, I could see where the Glade was located. Around the Glade red lines were drawn going out, diagonally creating triangles over the other areas. Each of these were labelled in sections, ranging from one to nine, next to the number nine was a small cross. I remembered section nine from Newt’s story and realised it was the one swarming in Cranks. The one Minho had declared they would never go to again. 

“What are we doing here?” Thomas finally asked after doing his own survey of the room. 

“Minho is calling a meeting of the runners,” Newt said, his voice however sounded a little off, as though there was some emotion he was fighting against, while trying to keep his voice calm. 

“Why?” I asked turning away from the maps to study Newt. He was standing just inside the door with his arms crossed a small frown on his face, his usually warm brown eyes seemed a little cold as he avoided making eye contact with Thomas and me. 

“When the Cranks attacked there was some structural damage caused to the barn and some of the pig enclosures.” 

“Yeah, we put some plastic over the holes the other day. Gally said he needed some more things to actually fix them properly,” Thomas said crossing his arms over his own chest, mimicking Newt. “But he said we wouldn’t have to go on a Run for a few more weeks, he said the measures we put in place would suffice for the moment.” 

Newt let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before he continued speaking. “Alby apparently has other ideas and believes theses issues need to be fixed sooner rather than later. Minho’s talking to him now to try and get him to give us some more time.” 

Thomas nodded and opened his mouth to speak when the door opened revealing Gally and Jeff. I had met Jeff a few times, he was taller than Clint but not by much, with shaggy brown hair and baggy clothes but his eyes were observant. Every time I had seen him he had been wearing dark shorts, with a white shirt and a dark brown vest. 

“What the shuck is this about?” Jeff complained as he walked into the room. “You only just got back from the last run, Lyn’s only just regained consciousness and both of them,” he pointed between Thomas and I, “have had no shucking training. We can’t go on a run yet.” 

“I told you,” Gally said sighing as he entered the room and shut the door behind him. “Minho is talking to Alby about it now, we will know more when he comes back.”  
Jeff still looked angry as he propped himself up against the back wall and glared at the ground. 

Thomas turned back to the map on the table in the middle of the room, Newt walked over to join him. I glanced over at Gally, he was still standing by the door looking a little awkward. He kept looking over at me and then away, it was as though he was having some internal debate. I watched as he straightened up, squared his shoulders and walked over to me. 

The moment I noticed him walking towards me I glanced behind me to make sure I was still standing near Thomas and Newt. Thomas seemed to notice I was worried, he was still leaning over the table but I noticed his eyes were focused on me. I had no idea what Gally wanted and that made me nervous. 

He must have sensed my nerves as he stopped a few feet away from me, keeping at arms distance. 

“Umm, Lyn,” Gally said as he stared at the floor, “I just wanted to say, sorry and thank you.” He finally looked up meeting my eyes and I could see sincerity in his blue eyes. “I really mean it. I had been an absolute shank to you but you still saw I was in danger and rushed to help me. I definitely didn’t deserve your help after everything I said and put you through but you did it anyway so thank you,” he finished and lowered his eyes again. Maybe he was worried about how I would reply. 

“That’s okay,” I replied with a smile. His eyes shot up to meet mine as though checking that I meant what I said. “I understand everything you did and said, you just wanted to protect the people in the Glade.” 

“Exactly,” Gally exclaimed, “these people are like my family. I can’t risk them getting hurt and then the three of you show up from WICKED, a place we know is evil and that no one escapes from. I couldn’t help but think it was a trap or something. I guess I let that fear control me and for that I am sorry.” 

“You apologizing?” Newts voice cut into our conversation. 

“What’s it to you?” Gally said and I saw the vulnerable guy in front of me quickly swap back into his tough guy act before walking away. 

Newt laughed and watched him leave before leaning in and whispering, “I think you’re the only person he has ever apologized to. Normally when he needs to apologise he just turns bright red and walks away, mumbling to himself.” 

“Really?” 

“Really,” Newt said straightening up, “you should feel privileged.” 

“I can hear ya, you know,” Gally called from the other side of the room. Newt broke into a smile while I started to giggle.

The humour quickly vanished as the wooden door to the hut banged open and slammed into the wall, it felt like the whole building shook with the force. Minho stalked through the door, his brown eyes that were normally filled with mischief seemed dark as he glared around at everything. He was breathing deeply as though trying to calm down but the look on his face told me it wasn’t working too well. 

I heard Newt sigh before he walked towards Minho, “you couldn’t change his mind.” 

“I’ve had it with him,” Minho growled, “he is gonna’ be the death of all of us one day because he can’t shucking use his head to think. I understand that we need to go on a run, I get that. What I don’t get is why they,” he gestured to Thomas and me, “have to come too. It’s ridiculous. They’ve got no training, we don’t even know how far or fast they can run.” Minho turned away from the room as if tyring to collect himself. Newt moved with him, placing a hand on his shoulder and speaking too quiet for me to hear. 

I moved closer to Thomas, I knew we were the cause of all the anguish, they were worried about taking us out into the Scorch. 

Suddenly Minho turned back around to face us, “okay, everyone listen up,” he said and moved closer to the table in the middle of the room. Newt followed him and signalled for the rest of us to move closer to the table. Minho stood at the head of the table, while Gally stood to his right, Jeff stood across from him and Thomas and I were on his left. Newt moved to stand between Minho and me. 

“Tomorrow we leave at dawn, I want to try and come back on the same day. I have a list of supplies we need from the Keepers, most of the stuff is industrial meaning it won’t be a food run. We will head to section two since it has a lot more abandoned warehouses and factories.” As he spoke he pointed to one of the sections on the map, it looked quite close to the Glade meaning it shouldn’t be a long drive. “Newt, Thomas, Lyn and I will get what we need from them, hopefully it won’t take too long. Gally you and Jeff will be on fuel duty. Kat says we need more so it’s up to you to find abandoned cars and siphon the remaining fuel. Once you’ve done that you will take it back to the bunker and wait for us to return.” 

Minho looked over at Gally and Jeff and asked them “good that,” they both nodded. He then turned his attention to Thomas and me, “since it’s your first run you I’m going to pair you up. Thomas with me and Lyn with Newt, you are to stay with us at all times, you will follow every order we give you, you will not wonder off and you will stay alert at all times.”  
I gulped as Minho took a step closer to us, “what we do is not a game and at times it can become a life or death situation. If you want to live to see the next day you will follow all my rules.” 

I nodded as I felt fear start to course through my veins. I turned to look at Thomas and noticed he was a little pale but he had a determined look in his eyes, like he wanted to succeed no matter what. I felt like I was about to pass out. I knew I had decided to be a runner but listening to what Minho was saying and watching his deathly serious face as he outlined the danger, made me a little worried. 

Minho seemed to realise as his face changed to a much kinder expression as he continued. “I am sure everything will be alright. Section two is normally pretty safe and you will be with someone at all times so you don’t have to stress to much just stick close and watch your back. Okay.” 

“Don’t worry,” Newt said, “you’ll be with me. I won’t let anything happen to you.” 

I nodded again feeling a little calmer about the whole situation. 

“Alright now that everyone knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, it’s off to bed. I want you all up and dressed before dawn. We will meet by the entrance to the Glade.”  
There was a general noise of consent before Gally and Jeff began to leave the room. 

“Thomas you coming?” Minho asked from the doorway. I had forgotten they were sharing. 

“Wait,” Thomas said halfway to the door, he looked back at me, “where is Lyn sleeping? She spent the last few days in the med-jack building.” 

“Shuck,” Minho muttered, “we could see if there’s a girl who wouldn’t mind sharing. I’m sure Kat wouldn’t.” 

“Kat’s already sharing with someone,” Newt said. 

“I could sleep back in the med-jack bay,” I suggested. 

“Just let her crash with you Newt,” Minho replied ignoring me, “that way you can get her up on time.” 

“I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Newt said in response to Minho. 

“All the girls are probably already asleep,” Minho said, “what would be inappropriate is waking them all up to see if she can bunk with them. It’s just one night, you can sleep on the couch.” 

“It’s probably better if she stays with you,” Thomas agreed, “sometimes she sleeps in and it’s hard to wake her up. Someone will probably have to wake her up tomorrow.”

I was a little annoyed that they were speaking about me as though I wasn’t here and that they had ignored my suggestion. Although it was true that at times I slept in and refused to wake up but that was back in WICKED, nothing good ever happened when you woke up, so why would I want to wake up. 

“Would you mind?” Newt said turning to me. 

Truthfully, I didn’t really mind. Newt had been good to me since the moment we met, I felt like I trusted him. 

“Only if it won’t put you out,” I replied.

“That settles it then,” Minho said clapping his hands at the decision, “now let’s go.”

The four of us made our way towards the houses on the other side of the camp. It turned out that Minho’s hut was right next door to Newt’s which made me feel even safer, knowing Thomas was just next door. 

After saying a quick goodnight to Minho and giving Thomas a hug, I turned to see Newt holding the door open for me. Entering his room, I was amazed to see a double bed pushed against one of the walls in the far corner of his room. The bed wasn’t made, the grey sheets sprawled haphazardly around the bed as a doona lay half on the bed and half on the wooden floor. There was also a dark couch at the other end of the room, I couldn’t work out the colour in the dark but Newt was currently walking around the room lighting some candles that had been placed on shelves and a small desk. Looking at the shelves I could see some books piled up. 

I was amazed, in WICKED I had spent majority of my time in a plain, white room with nothing except a bed and a toilet in the corner. It never felt lived in. This room felt lived in, the messy sheets, the half open book on the floor next to the bed. It felt like Newt. 

“Sorry it’s a bit of a mess,” Newt scratched the back of his head as he looked around the room, his eyes focusing on his messy bed. 

“No, it’s awesome,” I replied smiling. He most likely thought I was weird getting so excited about a room but it was something new to me. 

“Okay,” he said with a small chuckle, “you can take the bed and I’ll sleep on the couch.” 

“Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t mind the couch.” 

“I couldn’t make a girl sleep on a couch, don’t worry about it. I’ve got some clothes you can change into,” he said reaching into a chest of draws hidden next to the shelves, he handed me some clothes before making his way towards the door. “I’ll wait out here, so let me know when you’re decent.” 

Then I was left alone. Looking at the clothes in my hands I saw they were just simple black track pants and a grey sweater. I quickly changed, having to roll the sleeves up a little since Newt was a lot taller than me, before opening the door and letting him back in. 

Finally, after turning my back while Newt changed his clothes. I was settled in the bed and Newt had grabbed the doona and was laying down on the couch. 

“Thanks for everything,” I said to him while I stared at the ceiling. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied softly before adding, “good night, Evie.” 

“Good night Newt,” I replied just as softly. I rolled over, closing my eyes and began to drift of to sleep.


	31. THIRTY ONE - LYN

_“Evelyn,” I heard a female voice calling me. The familiar female voice was pulling me from my sleep. Blinking my eyes groggily I tried to understand where I was.  Sitting up I realised I could barely see anything, there was nearly no light. I began to crawl forward to try and find the poor light source, I was startled to realise there were metal bars in front of me stopping from going forward. Reaching to the sides I felt more bars around me, I was in a metal cage, hundreds of bars separating me from freedom._

_Crawling forward I pulled on the bars trying to force them to move but they wouldn’t open.  I pushed and pulled feeling my frustration grow, tears began to slide down my face and I let out a frustrated scream._

_“Evelyn,” the female voice said again, “Evie.”_

_It was coming from beside me, turning my head to the side I could just make out a pale face, with bright blue eyes and long auburn hair falling in front of her face. My older sister, Juliet, was sitting in a similar cage, sitting apart from mine.   I watched as she moved to the side closest to me and reached out her hand, her pale face was pushed against the bars of her own cage.  Crawling towards her, I reached out my hand to grab hers._

_She held my hand tightly squeezing it, trying to comfort me._

_“Juliet,” I whispered in a tiny voice, “where are we?”_

_“I don’t know,” she said and I saw unshed tears in her own eyes. I tried to remember what had happened before we wound up in these cages. All I could remember was being out with Juliet, we were looking for food. I heard a noise and tried to tell her but before I could utter a sound something had grabbed me. I felt fresh tears appear in my eyes, I was so scared, who had taken us and why._

_“Hey,” Juliet whispered, gripping my hand tighter, “Evie, listen to me, everything’s going to be okay. Yeah, we’ll get out somehow.”_

_I nodded in reply, my words failing me as I tried not to start sobbing.  A noise broke the silence, a door from somewhere had opened.  Light from the now open door flooded the room. I blinked against the light as I tried to make out the shapes in the room. I gasped as I saw two rows of cages against each wall of the room. There must have been about twenty altogether but they were all empty. I was scared of knowing if they had always been empty and if not, what had happened to the people who used to be in them._

_Two shadows appeared in the light and I looked back to try and work out what were the weird shapes that were quickly coming towards us._

_Juliet kept my hand in hers, her grip tight.  I had finally worked out what was coming towards us. Two men, one dressed in a white lab coat, the other was dressed in a black robe, his face hidden entirely from view._

_They stopped between the two cages, making no noise._

_“Who are you?” Juliet called, leaning forward, her hand never leaving mine, “what do you want with us?”_

_The people in front of us didn’t answer, instead they moved towards Juliet. I now had a death grip on her hand.  The one in the white lab coat moved forward towards the front of Juliet’s cage, he pulled out a key and I heard him turn the lock._

_“What are you doing?” she yelled at them. I watched him reach in to grab Juliet’s ankle. She kicked him. Both of the strange men moved forward reaching into the cage to grab her. She kept kicking them, she grabbed one of the bars. Her hand still gripping mine._

_“Let her go,” I yelled, my body up against the bars of my cage, “leave her alone.”_

_The two men finally got a grip on her and started to pull her out of the cage.  She was screaming, I was screaming. I grabbed her hand in both of mine trying to keep her there but I felt it start to slip._

_“Let her go,” I screamed trying to keep her with me but her hand was ripped from mine._

_“Juliet,” I screamed as she was now getting dragged towards the still open door._

_“Evelyn,” Juliet screamed still fighting against the two men._

_“Juliet,” I yelled reaching out for her._

 

“Evie!” a new voice broke into the dream “wake up!”

I bolted upright panting, fighting against the grip on my shoulder, trying to pull the mysterious man off of me.

“Evie, Evie,” the voice continued but it let go of me, turning to look at the person I saw Newt standing there.

“What happened?” I whispered looking around the room taking in my surroundings. I wasn’t in a cage, I was in a bed, it wasn’t a strange man around me it was Newt.

“You had a bad dream,” he said, he was still standing next to the bed with his arms raised in a surrender pose.  “You were screaming so I tried to wake you up. I’m sorry if I caused you distress.”

“No,” I replied shaking my head, “it’s okay.”  I looked down at my hands, they were shaking, I grabbed them trying to stop it.

Newt now seemed to think I had calmed down enough and sat down on the side of the bed, he reached over and grabbed my hands in his, “do you want to talk about it?”

“I…I…” I stuttered trying to clear my thoughts, “I think I have a sister?”

“What?” Newt replied incredulous.

“In the dream was a girl, she looked similar to me but a little older, I thought she was my older sister. Her name was Juliet.”

I ended up telling Newt about the dream I had and what Thomas thought about them.

“If he is right,” I said shakily taking a deep breath, “it means that before WICKED I was somewhere worse, somewhere I can’t remember. I may even have family out there, she might still be there.”

“You can’t think like that,” Newt said, gripping my hands in his, “you can’t let yourself stress over something that might not even be true.”

“I know,” I replied, “I’m not even sure I want to remember it. If I went through something that was worse than WICKED I don’t know if I want to remember.”

“That’s okay.”  

“But what if I have a sister out there and I don’t want to remember.”

“That’s okay,” Newt said again and wrapped one of his arms around me as tears began to flow down my face. “Before the world became like this, when people went through horrible stuff they sometimes repressed the memory.  The brain does it to protect itself. The thought that you don’t want to remember is just your brain protecting itself.”

“Is that true?”

“Of course,” he said, “I read it in a book once.”

It was silent in the room, just the sound of my shaky breath as Newt continued to rub my shoulder trying to calm me down.

“Are you feeling better?”

I nodded.

“Do you want to get some more sleep?” he asked moving away to look at me, “it’s still early morning. We can get a couple more hours sleep before we have to leave.”

“Okay,” I agreed knowing I needed to be fully rested for tomorrow, “I’m sorry for waking you up.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he said and began to stand up.

I reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, he stopped and turned around a worried look on his face.

“Are you okay? Is there something else?”

“Could you stay here?” I asked in a small voice.  I felt safer when he was close and hoped that if I kept him near me I might not have another nightmare.

Newt looked torn, looking between me and the couch and I realised I put him in hard position.

“Sorry,” I said pulling my hand back, “don’t listen to me. I’ll be fine you can go back to the couch.”

“No,” he said sitting back next to me, “if it makes you feel better I’ll stay.”

I let out a little smile as I laid back down on the bed and turned my back to Newt. I felt the other side of the bed dip down as he laid down beside me.  Feeling a little safer I closed my eyes for the second time and wished I would fall into a dreamless sleep.  


	32. THIRTY TWO - LYN

I woke up and refused to open my eyes, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep. Barely conscious I was startled to feel an arm around my waist pull me closer. I felt my body tense and was starting to freak out until I remembered what had happened last night.  Newt had stayed with me to comfort me. Sometime during the night, he must have moved closer. Apart from his arm around me, I could also feel his breath on my neck and the heat of his body close behind me.

I tried to move out from under his arm, my movements seemed to disturb him as he began to move. I instantly stopped, hoping he wouldn’t wake up. I decided that it didn’t matter how close he was, I still wanted to get some more sleep. I snuggled back down in to the bed and closed my eyes.

A sudden loud banging on the door however had me opening my eyes and jumping up. The arm around me vanished as Newt behind me also jumped up, he was in such a rush that he fell out the bed and landed on the floor.

The banging stopped and Minho’s voice broke through the silence, “wake up ya shanks we’re leaving soon.”

“Alright,” Newt called out, his head hanging down as he yawned and tried to wake himself up.  He turned his head sideways and glanced at me, his warm brown eyes were half open, a sleepy smile on his face, his hair tousled from sleep.

“Did you manage…” he stopped speaking, trying to clear his throat that was croaky from disused.  “Did you manage to get some sleep?”

“I did,” I said smiling embarrassedly at him, “thank you for staying.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said pulling himself up from the floor, “when did I get on the floor?”

“Seriously are you guys up?” Minho called and banged on the door again, “stop making googly eyes at each other and start getting ready.”

Newt let out a huff as he walked to the door and opened it to a surprised Minho, his hand raised to bang on the door again. 

“What the bloody hell do you think you are saying?”

“Oh,” Minho said lowering his hand, “you’re up. Good that.”

“We were up the first time,” Newt said angrily.

“Huh,” Minho replied crossing his arms before looking at me in the bed, I could only imagine how I looked, he looked back at Newt, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “If you’ve been up for a while, why is Lyn still in bed and you’re both still in your pyjamas, unless you guys were both busy?”

Newt said something under his breath before pushing Minho out the room, he made to follow him before turning to me and pointing to the dresser, “you can feel free to grab some clothes from there, I think there’s some of Sonya’s clothes in the second draw or you can put the ones from yesterday. Let me know when you’re dressed.”  With that he closed the door and I was left alone.

Slowly getting up from the bed stretching, I ran my hands through my hair to try and smooth it out a bit. Looking back down at the messy white sheets I decided it would be nice to make the bed.  It didn’t take long to fold the sheets and pull the doona back over the top. I wondered when the last time was he had made the bed.

I found my folded clothes from yesterday, sitting where I left them on the small desk. Sniffing under the arms I decided I should probably wear something else today.  I had just begun to walk towards the dresser when I heard yelling from outside the front of the hut.

“What?” Minho’s voice rang loudly along with his laughter.

“Would you keep it down,” Newt’s voice was just as loud as he shushed Minho. I chuckled at the two of them before moving towards the dresser of clothes.   Newt had said the second draw, pulling it open I saw a bunch of clothes, rummaging through I managed to find some black jeans that didn’t have too many holes in them and looked close to my size. Pulling them on I saw they were only a little too long in the legs but it wasn’t too bad, my boots managed to keep them from falling over my feet.  Searching again I found a red tank top that looked like it would fit, I then grabbed one of Newt’s overlarge white, thin, sweaters to pull over the top. I liked having the sleeves fall over my arms, hiding the stupid tattoo on my wrist.  

I opened the door and noticed it was still dark out, stars still shining in the sky. You could tell the sun was about to rise as the sky wasn’t the pitch black of night, it was more a lighter shade of blue but you couldn’t see the sun, the mountains were hiding it from view.

 Walking out into the Glade and squinting into the darkness I managed to make out Newt, Minho and now Thomas standing in front of the cafeteria, laughing.  It was nice to see. I never thought I would see Thomas laugh like that, he looked so carefree and happy something I had rarely seen.  It was nice that he seemed to be fitting in with the boys nicely.  

Newt noticed me approaching them and broke away from the other guys. “You managed to find something then,” he said smiling.

“Yep,” I said popping the ‘p’. “Why does Sonya have clothes in your dresser?”

“We used to share the room but when she got more serious with Aris she decided to move to his place.” Newt was pulling a face at that. “She just left the clothes behind and I don’t need that many draws so they just stayed there.”

“Hurry up Newt!” Minho called, “you two can talk in the car. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Bloody hell,” Newt mumbled before turning around and waving at Minho, “I guess we’ll swap. There’s some food over there, be sure to eat something before we leave.”

I nodded and Newt walked off back towards his house.

“Morning,” Thomas said pulling me into hug, when he didn’t let go I patted his arm.

“What’s wrong,” I asked as I finally managed to pull myself away from him.

“Just nervous about the first run,” he said and I totally understood, “also I heard you scream last night. Just as I was about to run out the room you stopped. What happened?”

I glanced at Minho who was now talking to Gally who had just arrived.

“Don’t worry, Minho slept through it,” Thomas shook his head in disbelief, “he is such a heavy sleeper I’m surprised he can wake up in time to go on the run. But seriously,” Thomas said turning back to me, “are you okay? What did you dream about?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied and wouldn’t meet his eyes. I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell Thomas because he seemed so sure that I was reliving memories. I didn’t know how he would react if I told him I might have a sister. But it’s Thomas, I told him everything, he had always helped me before, always looking for meaning in what was happening. It wouldn’t feel right to not tell him. 

So, I did. I told him all about the dream, being in the cages again, the girl next to me who I thought was my older sister.  I told him everything up to the point of when Newt woke me up.

Thomas stayed quiet during my recount only nodding in understanding.  He was about to start talking when Minho made his way back over to us and he closed his mouth. I was happy to be interrupted because I could already predict what Thomas was about to say, that I was recalling memories. That maybe I was at FEAR before I wound up at WICKED and once again I knew he wouldn’t understand why I didn’t want to remember.  I pulled my sleeves over my hands wishing I could hide all traces of my past.

Minho arrived looking between us with a confused expression before he began talking. “Frypan’s made up a couple of sandwiches for us,” he said pointing behind him to where Gally and Jeff were sitting down at one of the tables a plate of sandwiches between them. “Best go grab a couple before those shanks eat them all.”

“Hey, we’re growing boys,” Jeff called in defence as he picked up another sandwich and ate it whole.

I didn’t need to be told twice and I certainly was not running away from Thomas although I could feel his calculating stare following me as I moved to the table.

“They’re all ham and cheese,” Gally’s voice was muffled as he spoke behind his hand, still chewing on a sandwich.

“Thanks,” I said grabbing one and sitting down.  There were about four sandwiches left on the plate. Gally and Jeff each ate one more before leaving the last two for me.  While I was eating Newt came back into view dressed in his normal khaki cargo pants, white shirt and this time a rust coloured jacket with a sheepskin collar. He must have run his fingers through his dirty blonde hair as his sleep dishevelled hair now appeared much more tamed.   

Minho gathered everyone around the table, “okay while they’re finishing their breakfast Newt and Thomas you’re coming with me to get the weapons and backpacks. We will meet you shanks by the entrance in five minutes. Good that.”

He was meet with nods and muffled noise as the three of us replied. Thomas and Newt just smiled before following Minho.

“Nervous,” Jeff asked turning to me, “it’s your first run after all.

“A little,” I replied.  

“I remember on my first run,” Jeff began, “I ran straight in to a Crank –”

“Shut up,” I heard Gally command as I heard a thump.  Jeff cried out as he jumped up from his seat, leaning down to rub his leg shooting Gally a death glare.

“What the shuck man,” Jeff glared at Gally.

“Now’s not the time to tell scary stories,” Gally said rising from his seat and dusting the crumbs off his hands. “You done Lyn?” he asked glancing at the half-eaten sandwich in my hands. I nodded not feeling to hungry as my stomach began to dance with butterflies. “Alright let’s go.”

The three of us made our way towards the entrance in silence. Jeff was still shooting Gally dirty looks every few minutes. I for one was happy he had stopped talking. I didn’t want to hear about their past horror stories. I wanted to believe we wouldn’t see a Crank and today’s run would be successful.  It might be a stupid thought but it’s what I was telling myself in order to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We arrived at the entrance to see Minho, Thomas and Newt already there, each of them had a backpack strapped to them. Minho and Newt had a black duffle bag held between them, it looked to be already full of things. Thomas had an empty large canister resting on his shoulder and another one in his hand.  

“Glad you all decided to make it,” Minho teased, “you lot took your time.”

“Thomas, Lyn” a new voice called out. I turned to see Teresa running towards us, her dark hair flying behind her. 

“What’s wrong,” Thomas asked dropping the canisters to the ground and rushing towards her, I followed him.  He caught her in his arms and she pulled him into a hug.

I slowed down, realising I might be intruding upon a moment. Teresa slowly released him but never let go of his arms, she turned to look at me, I was standing behind Thomas to the side.

“I just wanted to see you guys before you left,” she said finally letting him go and pulling me into a hug, “please be careful,” she whispered to me before letting me go. The three of us stood together standing close, it had been the three of us for so long, now we were leaving Teresa behind.

“You shank’s done?” Gally’s voice broke the moment, he had picked up the canisters Thomas had dropped. “Cause we’ve gotta go.”

Teresa nodded and took a couple of steps back, “be safe,” she called again before turning around and walking away.

“That was sweet,” Minho said as we turned back around to face the others, “now it’s time to get climbing.”

Minho instructed Thomas to take one of the canisters from Gally. Jeff and I took Minho and Newt’s backpacks as the two of them struggled with the duffle bag. I turned to have one more look at the Glade before I started to climb up the rocky mountain.  I hoped we would all be back by tonight.


	33. THIRTY THREE - LYN

Minho was driving, Newt was in the passenger seat while Thomas and I were seated in the back, the duffle bag, which I had found to be full of guns and knives was propped between us. The other jeep containing Gally and Jeff was driving to the side of us and just a little behind. For most of the drive I looked out the window. It was hard to believe this was the world we lived in. The glade was full of green trees, animals, dams but outside the giant, rocky, mountains was nothing but sun scorched land. 

The scenery flying past my window was nothing but a barren waste land. There were white, dead trees scattered around, massive grey rocks and orange dirt in every direction the eye could see.  The sky was an endless blue, no clouds in sight. The sun which was taking up majority of the sky was a harsh orange, the heat beating down on us. Inside the jeep Minho had the air-conditioning on but it didn’t seem to make a difference. The protection the Glade had from the sun was amazing, looking at the world around me I couldn’t help but compare it to hell on earth.

After two hours of driving I began to see buildings in the distance, the dark colours stood out in stark contrast to the surrounding orange sand. The buildings were still too far away to make out their exact shapes, I was only able to make out either squares or rectangles. 

My mind however was beginning to get that familiar itch, the one that meant there were other things around. Closing my eyes and honing my senses was able to sense how alive the city was, red dots were scattered throughout the area. So much for not running into any Cranks.

“What do you sense?” Thomas asked from beside me. I opened my eyes to see he had been watching me. Newt turned around in his seat to look at me too while Minho kept glancing back at me from the rear-view mirror.

“There are Cranks,” I said.

Minho laughed, “of course there are. We’re going to a city. Most Cranks can be found in cities. Are there any heavily populated areas? We can handle a Crank or two, hordes of them, that’s what we need to avoid.”   

Closing my eyes and searching again I came to the conclusion that most of them were spread out, with only one section on the other side of the city having a building covered in Cranks.

“Good that,” Minho said after I explained, “we weren’t going that far anyway. Let me know if that changes.”   

I nodded in response and the drive continued in silence. After another half an hour we were now on the outskirts of the city. The buildings surrounding us were falling apart, doors had been smashed open, paint from the signs and walls were peeling off revealing the wood beneath. Exposed metal was rusting, some bending under the weight of holding up the compromised building.

I felt more and more butterflies arrive in my stomach each of them getting ready to fly, their wings causing me to feel sick with nerves. It was getting closer to when we would have to get out of the car and start the run.  I felt fear begin to creep into my mind and had to fight it back. I wanted to be here. I wanted to protect these people. I wanted to protect Thomas who had always looked out for me. I wanted to protect Minho who had saved my life before and treated me as a friend. I wanted to protect Newt who had been nothing but kind to me, always looking out for me, listening to me and reassuring me.  I could do this. I would not be a hinderance.

Minho slowed the jeep to a crawl as he turned down an empty street between two buildings.  There was another driveway that led to the inside of what seemed to be an old garage, a rust covered corrugated metal roller door was pulled down blocking the entrance.

“Anything in the building?” Minho asked me. I closed my eyes searching the area in front of us.

“No, it’s clear,” I replied and Newt opened his door jumping out the car. He moved towards the garage, bending down and lifting up the metal door. Minho wasted no time driving into the garage. He pulled in, Gally following right behind him.  When both cars were in Minho shut of the engine and I could hear Newt pulling the garage door back down.

“This here is our bunker in section two,” Minho said as he opened his door and got out. Thomas and I quickly following him. “Our bunkers are always on the outskirts of the cities as there tend to be less Cranks in the outer areas. Most of the run will focus on the more outer buildings as well, but the less we can find the closer to the centre of the city we have to go.  Last time we were here however we could still find lots of resources, hopefully that hasn’t changed.”

I nodded taking in everything Minho was saying, this was important information and the more information I had the safer I would be.

“Lyn grab the bag,” Newt said as I began to shift out of the car, reaching back I struggled to pull out the duffle bag. Eventually I managed to get it out the car, nearly falling over, I swear I nearly dislocated my shoulders from supporting it’s full weight, during the drop. I heard the guys laugh behind me as I turned around and dropped it on the ground.

“Good work,” Minho said still sniggering, he squatted down and unzipped the bag, without saying anything he began to hand weapons to the others.  I watched as Gally as he took two hand guns from Minho, shoving them both behind his back. Jeff and Newt were handed one as well both of them also tucked them into the small of their back. Newt was then handed a rifle with a rope tied around it, he pulled it over his head with practiced ease.  Minho was now handing out small knives around the group, I watched as they were tucked into various pockets and boots.  Minho was tying a machete around his waist and I caught sight of a hand gun sticking out from the top of his jeans as well.

I felt myself pale as I watched them arm themselves, once again I was realising the dangers out there in the city. It was more than just the Cranks there were rival groups as well. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down as Minho turned to Thomas and me.

“Okay greenies,” he was holding two hand guns out to us in the flat of his palm, “time to arm yourselves.” Thomas quickly grabbed the offered gun and tucked it into his pants. I hesitated before grabbing mine, I had never held one before, it was heavy in my grip.

Newt came over and gave me and Thomas a quick lesson on how to use it, Gally and Minho offering advice as he went. Thomas seemed to get it quicker than me and tucked his gun back into his pants. After they were sure I understood the basics Newt turned to Minho asking if he had brought any holsters.  After rummaging through the back of the jeep Minho returned with a double shoulder holster, the two of them helped me into it, they also gave me another hand gun for the second holster.  They asked me to practice drawing for a while before they all agreed I was fast enough.   

“Okay,” Minho said reaching back into the bag to pull something else out. “Now to the knives. We tend to use these a bit more than guns since they are quieter and won’t draw more Cranks to you.”

Minho gave two to Thomas and two to me, the knives were already in a sheath that could be tied around the body. Thomas choose to put one of his in his boot and the other in his pocket like the other boys, I decided to copy him, placing one in my boot I was about to put the second one in my pocket when Gally walked over.

“It might be easier for you if we strap one around your wrist,” he said taking it from me and tightening it to my left wrist. “This way it’s easier to draw and it’s hidden underneath your sweater.”

I nodded not prepared to argue with his knowledge the boys around me had been doing this much longer than I had and they were all still alive. It seemed like the smart thing to do would be to trust their knowledge.

Minho reached down to pull something else out of the bag, I was worried about what else he could pull out. I was relieved to see him pull out two electronic watches, he handed one to Thomas and me which we quickly pulled on.  He also pulled out three walkie talkies, Newt and Gally took one each before Minho clipped the last one on to his jeans.

“Alright everyone’s ready now,” Minho said clapping his hands in anticipation. “Remember Jeff and Gally you guys are on fuel, you’ve got two canisters that need to be filled before we leave. Stick to the outskirts of town, I saw loads of abandoned cars on the way here, hopefully they fuel left over. When your jobs done come back here and wait. If anyone has anything to say, talk through the walkie talkie. Lyn if you sense anything near any of us you tell Newt and Newt you tell us, good that.”

After a nod of acknowledgement, Gally and Jeff said a quick goodbye before leaving the garage through a different door.

“Now greenies, listen up,” Minho said walking closer to the two of us, “we’re going to split up to cover more ground. Thomas you’re with me, Evelyn you’re with Newt. You will follow every and any instruction we give you. Newt you know what to do?”

“Grab what we can, anything too big to carry we gather together and place near an entry way read to be picked up in the cars later,” Newt recited.

“Good that,” Minho said before a nervous smile appeared on his face, “I guess all that’s left to do now is go on the run. Good luck everyone. Thomas we’re going this way.”

With that Minho started jogging towards another door to leave the building. Thomas and I shared a quick look but it said it all, be careful and come back soon, then Thomas moved to follow Minho.

I turned to look at Newt, we were the only people in the building. He had a grim look on his face, “let’s go,” he said and moved towards the garage door. He began to pull it up and I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves before I left the sanctuary of the bunker and followed after him out into the city.

The run was starting.  


	34. THIRTY FOUR - LYN

Leaving the garage behind, Newt began to walk back down the alley, I was following close behind. Peering around the corner of the building I could just make out two shapes, disappearing behind a building in the opposite direction. Using my sixth sense I recognised it was Minho and Thomas moving quickly through the streets.

Newt turned to me, “alright, we are going towards that building there,” he pointed ahead to a massive black building. Most of the windows were smashed or too grimy to see through, on the top of the building was a sign, you could just make out that there used to be words and pictures but it was covered in brown dirt, making it illegible.

“What’s in that building?”

“It used to be a cabinet factory, we normally find loads of different types of wood products that we can take apart and reuse. This is going to be a big job, chances are we will have to make a pile of wood to pick up later in the car. Do you sense anything in the building?”

Closing my eyes again I used my sixth sense to reach out, searching the building trying to see if anything was in it.  It was clear.

Just as I was about to speak I heard the crackling of a walkie talkie, “Newt, do you read me Newt?” Minho’s voice came across with static.

“What’s up?” Newt said answering Minho.

“We’re outside a building, Thomas thought he saw movement inside. Can Lyn check it out.”

Newt looked at me with a question in his eyes, I nodded and searched for the familiar colours of Thomas and Minho.  Once I zoned in to them I dove deeper visualising exactly where they were. The two of them were ducked down behind the truck bed of ute, their backs protected by a brick wall. While Minho was on the walkie talkie I could see Thomas continuously scanning their surroundings.

In front of them was a street of faded coloured, run-down, buildings, each one different heights but they all appeared to be the same width.  I didn’t know what building he was after, a quick scan of them all told me they appeared to be clear of Cranks but you couldn’t be too sure.

“There’s too many buildings around them. What building do they want to go in? Ask Minho to point.” I said without opening my eyes. I was still with Minho and Thomas behind the ute. I vaguely heard Newt repeat my instructions and Minho raised his arm and pointed to one just to the left of them.  Focusing on it I saw the windows had been boarded up from the inside, the dark blue paint covering the bricks had started fading, showing the original limestone colour of the bricks.  I scanned the building from top to bottom and the two surrounding buildings just in case.

I opened my eyes and came back to the present where I was sitting with Newt, “it’s clear.” I told him, I felt my nose begin to drip and quickly raised a hand. Pulling it away I saw a small amount of blood.  Newt gave me a worried glance before repeating what I had said to Minho.

“Good that.” Minho replied and the line went dead.

“Are you okay?” Newt asked moving closer to me, I held up a hand to keep him at arm’s length.

“I’m fine,” I replied wiping my nose, it had already stopped bleeding, “come on, let’s go.” Knowing there was no one near us I walked out of the ally and began to make my way towards the cabinet factory, Newt had pointed out.  Newt quickly followed me, I never normally noticed his limp but watching him try to catch up I noticed it a little more and remembered the story of how he got it. It was an accident that had happened on a run, hopefully something like that would never happen again.

 As we approached, Newt held out a hand and pushed me behind him. I didn’t sense anything close by but I appreciated his concern. The front door was glass and had been smashed open, glass lay all around the entrance.  Newt walked through first ducking to dodge the jagged shards of the glass still attached to the door.

“Careful,” he whispered as he turned to me and helped me walk through, ensuring I dodged all the glass. I could hear the glass cracking under my boots as I continued to walk into the building.  We had walked into the small showroom, displays of kitchens and bathrooms had been torn apart, splintered pieces of wood lay around the room.  Tiles had been smashed and broken, one of the fridges in a kitchen display had been pulled over. Where there had once been a wooden counter was now the remnants of wooden stumps, looking around I was shocked at the amount of damage people had caused but it was a necessity to survive. The time when people used to come here to shop was long gone.

“We’re going to the back,” Newt said as he walked towards a door just behind where the counter used to be. “Most of the pure wood is back here.”

I simply nodded and followed, I was too shocked at the debris left in the show room.  Newt held the door open for me the back room was like a massive factory, there were unmoving conveyor belts and machines, there was a forklift in front of a garage door.  The place was an absolute mess, cardboard boxes thrown everywhere, different sized pieces of wood hanging half on half off walls, on the floor, half made cabinets sitting around the room. Taking a step further in to the room I heard the sound of metal moving and looked down to see nails, nuts and bolts all over the floor.

“You need to watch where you step,” Newt said walking next to me, “I’ve stepped on a couple of nails before, it’s not a good feeling.”

I nodded and looked around again, “what do we need to get?”

“Gally has put an order in for wood, loads and loads of wood. Maybe some nails, nuts and bolts as well.  We won’t be able to carry the wood back to the garage so what we do is pile it in front of the garage door. Before we leave we will grab the cars and swing past to pick it all up.”

“Alright sounds like a plan.”

“Just grab what you can,” Newt said, “if you want you can start with gathering the nails and stuff. There might be a container somewhere you can put them in once you’ve gathered enough we’ll put it in the backpack.

“Okay,” I said turning around and going looking for a container. It didn’t take me long to find a couple abandoned drink bottles. I began crawling around on the ground, gathering the nails, nuts and bolts and organising them into different bottles.

Newt took off his jacket, leaving him in just a white tank top and began moving the wood, piling it up in front of the garage door. I couldn’t help my eyes wondering to his figure as he lifted the wood, watching the muscles in his arms and back move.  He was quickly working up a sweat from doing labour work in this heat.

Occasionally he would look over and catch me staring, I hope I wasn’t too obvious when I quickly looked away. I think he caught me a couple of times judging by his laughter. I felt my cheeks grow red but I kept looking at the floor gathering the small metal objects.

After what felt like hours, it was probably much less than that though, I had managed to fill up six bottles, two of each object, I’m sure that should be enough for the time being.  Newt had moved quite a lot of wood, now starting on his third pile. 

I had been monitoring the movement of Cranks the whole time but I thought I might just check in on the others. I was still sitting on the ground and I closed my eyes and searched for Minho and Thomas. They were still in the building from before, they were still all alone.  Gally and Jeff were in the middle of a street from the direction they were heading I think they were walking back towards the garage.   They were just about to reach a corner but around the corner I could sense something, focusing a little harder I could see there were two Cranks heading that way.

“Newt,” I said urgently turning towards him, still on my hands and knees, he had just put a large plank of wood onto the pile and was dusting his hands, the moment he heard the tone, he stood straighter and started moving towards me.

“Get Gally on the walkie talkie tell him to stop going forward. There’s two cranks heading that way. They need to go back.”  Newt didn’t wait for me to finish talking, he was already talking to Gally repeating what I was saying. I closed my eyes and focused, trying to block Newt’s talking out, block the static.

I visualised where they were and I saw them backing away from the corner, a canister, full of fuel, in each of their hands. That would slow them down.  I looked around the street trying to find another route back to the garage.  Finally, I made out a small alley way, clear of anything.

“Tell them to turn down the alley way on their left, if they go straight through it they will end up on the same street as the garage. When they get out they will have to go right and walk for a few minutes, keeping straight.”  I watched as the two boys lifted the canisters to rest on their shoulders and began to run down the alley way.

I felt the world swim and opened my eyes back in the cabinet factory, sitting on the floor. My nose was once again bleeding, a little harder than last time but I was still okay. I hoped.

Newt was watching me a worried expression on his face as he watched me raise my hand to stem the bleeding.  He still had the walkie talkie up to his mouth waiting. It was silent as we waited for them to tell us they were okay.  I could faintly sense them following my instructions but I couldn’t focus any harder otherwise the world started to spin again.

Static came over the walkie talkie, Newt and I held our breaths waiting for one of them to talk.

“Just outside the garage,” Gally’s voice said and I let out my breath in relief. Newt did the same, turning his back on me and walking away.

“Alright, you shank’s are done now, right?”

“Yep, managed to get two full canisters,” Gally’s voice sounded smug even over the walkie talkie. In a much sober tone he spoke again, “thanks for the help Lyn.”

“Anytime,” I replied when Newt held the walkie talkie out to me.

“You shank’s rest up,” Newt said, “we’ll be back soon.” Newt placed the walkie talkie back on his belt. “We need to get a move on. How’s it going with the nuts and bolts?”

I held up my bottles and shook them.

“Shuck,” he said impressed, “you even separated them. Are you feeling alright?”

I moved my hand back from my nose, once again feeling that it had stopped bleeding. “I’m good,” I said looking around for something to wipe my hand on, I found a small cloth that was already covered in black smudges.

Newt didn’t look convinced but he glanced back at some of the wood, sighing he turned back to me. “Will you be able to help me lift a few of the larger pieces over?”

“Sure,” I said while trying to stand up. I moved a tad too quick and started swaying. If Newt hadn’t caught me I think I might have fallen over.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He said worry lacing his voice, “we can head back to the bunker.”

“I’m fine,” I replied patting his shoulder, signalling he could let me go.  He released me slowly, I managed to stay standing after a few seconds of staying upright by myself I smiled at him and began to walk towards the larger pieces of wood.

Together we managed to move them onto Newt’s waiting pile.

“Done,” Newt said dusting his hands and looking at his watch, “only twelve, that’s good time, I hope Minho and Thomas are finished as well, we might be able to make it back to the Glade before six.”

We placed my bottles of nails, nuts and bolts into Newt’s backpack and Newt put his jacket back on before the two of us slowly and carefully made our way back to the garage. 


	35. THIRTY FIVE - LYN

Newt pulled up the garage door half way and both of us ducked under before he pulled it back down. Looking around I found Gally sitting on a couch in the corner of the room, Jeff was next to him, both of them were eating a sandwich.

“We’ve already loaded the canisters in the car,” Gally mumbled through a mouthful of ham sandwich. Sitting on his lap was a bag full of sandwiches, these boys seemed to eat a lot.

“Good that,” Newt said walking over to the couch and sitting between Gally and Jeff, he grabbed a sandwich out of the bag and started eating. 

Jeff passed one to me as I walked past them and sat down on top of the work bench next to the couch. 

“Now we just have to wait for Minho and the other greenie,” Gally said speaking through a mouthful of food again.

Searching for them I felt them moving in our direction, “they’re on their way, maybe about three minutes away.”

“You’re pretty useful, a bit like an alarm clock,” Jeff said and I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to feel complimented or insulted. Gally seemed to decided it was an insult, reaching around Newt to thump Jeff on the arm.

“You don’t speak to a girl like that,” Gally said as Jeff gasped in pain, rubbing his upper arm.

 “What, what did I say?” Jeff whined turning between Gally and Newt.

Newt chuckled while Gally leaned back into the couch, “just eat your sandwich.”

Jeff looked like he was going to argue before deciding against it and taking a disgruntled bite of his sandwich.  I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched the three of them, unwrapping my sandwich I began to eat.  

It didn’t take long before the garage door opened again and Thomas slipped through, Minho just behind him, closing the garage.

“Well don’t you shanks look comfortable,” Minho said crossing his arms and walking forward. He saw the bag on Gally’s lap, “there better be some sandwiches left.”

Gally threw him the bag which Minho caught easily, he rummaged through it for a second before walking over and passing one to Thomas who had just sat down next to me.

“How did you shank’s go? Minho asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Two full fuel canisters,” Gally said through another mouthful of food, “one placed in the back of each jeep.”

Minho nodded his head and using his sandwich pointed at Newt.

“I’ve got three stacks of different sized wood piled up inside a warehouse, one street over from here,” Newt said, “you?”

Minho was still chewing so instead of answering he pointed to Thomas to answer the question.

“We managed to find some wood, some sheet metal and other bits and bobs plus some fabric that we’ve already brought back in the backpacks.”

“All right shank’s,” Minho said as he finished his sandwich, “once we’re all finished here we’ll get in the jeeps, move together to the warehouse where Thomas and I went, load up the back and move to the second warehouse.”

We all muttered our consent and continued to eat in silence. Once everyone was finished we started piling back into the jeeps, we were all still armed, as the danger wasn’t over yet.  

Newt was standing by the garage door waiting for me to give the all clear. I closed my eyes focusing on the red dots, there was currently none near us.  I nodded my head.

“Go Newt,” Minho called from the driver’s side and Newt pulled the door up. Jeff reversed out into the alleyway closely followed by Minho, Newt pulled the garage door down and hopped in the passenger seat. 

We drove in silence towards the first building, Minho drove around the back to where the garage door was located. Then Gally, Thomas, Newt and I got out of the car quickly, Minho and Jeff staying in the cars in case we needed a quick getaway.

Thomas threw up the garage door while Newt and Gally opened the boot of the car.  Quickly the four of us began to pick up the supplies stacked in the door way, packing them into the boot of the car, trying to spread it evenly between the two.

It took time, Minho and Thomas had managed to find a large amount of supplies. Some of the sheet metal didn’t fit in the car and had to be tied to the roof of one of the jeeps, the other roof was kept clear for the larger pieces of wood Newt and I had found.  We were forever walking between the garage and the cars, piling things up, while trying to make everything fit with enough room for more.

Finally, we had everything loaded in, I got back into the jeep while Newt and Gally closed the cars boots and Thomas closed the garage door.

While everyone was getting back in the car Minho glanced at me, “the other building still intruder free?”

I closed my eyes and reached out, nothing there, “clear,” I called. Minho gave a sharp nod before following Newt’s directions on how to get there, Jeff following close behind.

“Lyn,” Thomas said gesturing to my nose.  Reaching up I felt it before pulling my hand away to see blood.

“Damn it,” I muttered and once again used my hand to stem the bleeding.

Minho followed Newt’s directions and we pulled in behind the building Newt and I had scavenged.  Again, Minho and Jeff stayed in the cars, Thomas went to open the garage door, Newt and Gally opened the boots and I got out the car ready to lift things.

We tried to be just as quick as last time but there was more wood to tie to the roof of the car. Thomas, Newt and Gally were trying to organise that while I lifted the smaller things into the boots. 

I knew I was moving too slow and I felt like crap.  All the physical exercise on top of the blood noses and using my sixth sense were wiping me out quickly.  That’s the only reason I can think of to explain why I didn’t sense them until it was too late.

I was halfway between dragging a toolbox, Newt had found, into one of the car boots when I felt the familiar itch in the back of my head that meant something was close by.  Stopping what I was doing I tried to focus, work out where it was coming from.  It was moving closer at an alarming rate, not cranks but members of another group.

“Incoming,” I yelled dropping the tool box just as a gunshot fire down the street.

“Shuck! It’s the Wild Ones,” I heard Gally yell as he stopped tying the wood to the car and pulled his own gun looking to return fire. I also pulled one of my guns, following Gally. I felt so bad that I hadn’t sensed them. 

There were two cars coming up the street towards us, five people in each. They were shooting at us.

“Get in the car!” Minho yelled from the driver’s seat, his head was out the window gun trained on the incoming vehicles.   

I made a move to run to the car when I heard Thomas call out in pain. He was further out from me, standing closer to the inbound cars.

“Thomas!” I yelled, while running towards him. I saw his hand over his shoulder, red blood spilling from around his hands.  His eyes were wide as he looked at me. Oh my God he had been shot. I felt tears well in my eyes as I covered the last few feet to him.  

The moment I reached him he fell on me, the strength in his legs zapped. I was now trying to support him with my own weak frame. All the while the cars were getting closer. I could hear Minho and Gally yelling, I could hear gunshot firing all around me but all I could think about was Thomas, bleeding out on me.

“Hang in there Thomas,” I whispered while trying not to collapse to the floor.  

“Tommy,” Newt yelled running over as well, thankfully he arrived just before I fell to the ground, helping me to lower Thomas slowly.  “Shuck,” he muttered before looking up at me, the look in his eyes was serious and I knew the look in mine was panic, “Lyn we’ve got to get him to the car.”

I nodded and tried to get my legs underneath me. Between the two of us we pulled Thomas up, supporting his weight between us. Looking back at everyone I could see Minho was now halfway out the car returning fire. Gally had climbed up on the hood of one of the jeeps using the car’s body to hide. 

I could hear the cars getting closer, they were nearly in line with us, moving towards us with purpose.

“Run,” Newt yelled at me and the two of us took off towards the closest Jeep, dragging Thomas’s feet behind us in the sand.  I opened the door and began to push Thomas in, Newt ran around to the other side, opening the opposite door and helping me pull him across the back seat.  Just as Thomas legs were about to go in the car, I felt an arm wrap around my waist, lifting me off the ground as the stranger began to pull me towards one of the new cars.  

I fought their grip, trying to kick them, wriggling with all my might. A new pair of hands joined the battle as Newt appeared in front of me, trying to pull me from the stranger’s grip.

Another person appeared behind Newt, dressed all in black with a scarf wrapped around their mouth, hiding their appearance.

“Run,” I screamed at Newt but it was too late, I watched in horror, as the second stranger raised their gun and hit Newt over the back of the head with the butt. Newt fell limp into the stranger’s arms.

“Take him too,” the person holding me managed to pant out, I could feel his voice rumble through his chest.  I was still fighting and he was struggling to control me.

“Evelyn!” Minho called as I was being shoved into the boot of a car, “NEWT!” Minho screamed as Newt was shoved in with me.

I caught sight of them just before the boot closed, Minho was now completely out the car trying to run towards us but Gally was pulling him back to safety while Jeff returned fire. They were still under a siege of bullets.

The last thing I could do was yell at them a warning, “run! Cranks!” I screamed just before the boot was shut with a loud thud, surrounding me in darkness. I heard the thud of other doors closing, I could still hear the gunfight going on and suddenly I felt us move. Going away from Minho and Thomas, going away from safety.  

Closing my eyes, I tried to reach out to Minho, Gally and Jeff to make sure they got away safely before the Cranks came.  I had just managed to focus on Minho when the world around me began to sway and I knew I had over worked myself. I felt myself losing consciousness, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I passed out.  I think it was safe to say my first run was a complete disaster. 


	36. THIRTY FIVE - MINHO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting some of the story from Minho's point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing a new character's point of view. Let me know what you think!

Everything had gone to shuck. Lyn’s warning hadn’t given us enough time to get away, the moment she had yelled “incoming”, we were under fire by a barrage of bullets.  We just needed to get everyone in the cars and drive off but of course Gally had run out to return fire, Lyn and Thomas being the greenies they were, followed him right out to the fight. 

“Damn it,” I muttered, reaching over to open the glove compartment. I pulled out the spare hand gun before leaning through my open window, “get in the car!” I yelled at them, while trying to provide cover fire. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw them all, turning around, heading back towards the jeeps.  The two black cars were getting closer, people hanging out the windows still shooting at us. I raised my gun and tried to provide cover fire for the four of them to run back but I had nowhere near as good as aim as Newt. I just kept shooting, praying I wouldn’t run out of bullets.  

“Thomas,” I heard Lyn’s voice yell, glancing to the side for a second, I saw Thomas, hand to his shoulder, eyes wide.

“Shuck,” I muttered to myself, Thomas had been shot and that was not shucking good. Opening the car door, I was preparing to run over and help Lyn, when a bullet flew just past my head and lodged itself into the car door. Jumping back in shock, I raised my gun, firing back at the intruders. I heard Newt call out and knew he was going to help Lyn, all I could do was provide cover, again I began firing at the cars.

It didn’t make sense, why were they driving towards us, why had they opened fire. It was unusual behaviour for any group, in the middle of a city. Crank’s everywhere would hear the noise and would come to investigate.

Out the corner of my eye I saw Newt and Lyn start dragging Thomas back towards the car Jeff was driving. Jeff, was still in the driver’s seat, window open returning fire.  Another bullet whizzed past my head and I looked to see the cars much closer than before. Just as I thought they might drive right past us, I heard the screeching of tires as they quickly put the brakes on and skidded to a halt, right next to us.

What were they doing? Did they want to loot us?

A tall guy dressed all in black jumped out the car and ran towards Jeff’s jeep.  I tried to aim my fire towards him but there were still so many people in the cars firing at us, I couldn’t change my target. Using the door as cover, I kept aiming at the other cars, trying to make every shot count as I was worried about running out of bullets.   

I ducked behind the door again trying to catch my breath when I could hear Lyn start screaming. Raising myself just enough to be able to look through the open window. I saw she had been grabbed by the tall guy and was being pulled towards one of the other cars.

This was not good, not good at all. Leaving my cover, I began to move forward, rushing to help Lyn, when a bullet grazed my leg. Shuck, I went down for a second before straightening myself back up, just in time to see Newt get whacked over the back of the head with a gun.

Seeing my best friend fall limp and start being dragged towards the car as well I gave up all ideas of my safety. The only thing I could think of was I needed to reach them, I needed to get them back. I broke into a sprint but Gally tackled me from the side, grabbing hold of me and trying to pull me back towards safety.  

“Evelyn!” I called trying to run towards them struggling against Gally’s grip, he was trying to pull me behind the jeep for cover. “NEWT! I screamed still trying to fight him off, his grip just got stronger.

I watched in horror as both of them were thrown into the boot of a car, just before it slammed.  Lyn fought to get out and I just managed to hear her yell.

“Run! Cranks!” then the boot was slammed shut. I was still fighting against Gally who had a death grip on my arms pulling me back and way from danger. Jeff was still returning fire. I watched as the car, carrying one of my best friends and the new girl who had gone through too much, drove away.

“We’ve got to go,” Gally said finally releasing me.

I stood there in shock as I watched the two cars pull away into the distance.

 “Minho!” Gally called again, “We’ve got to go!”

I could hear the Cranks getting closer. Thomas’s screams would probably lead them right to us.

“Go, go,” my sense came back to me and I began yelling at Gally to get in the other jeep while I ran back to my now empty car. I hopped in the driver’s seat and began to drive away.  Glancing in the rear-view mirror, I saw Jeff hop in the back with Thomas and Gally driving after me. 

We sped out of the city, out racing the Cranks easily.  About half an hour away, I pulled the car to a stop and hopped out, Gally following me and hopping out as well.

I walked towards the back of the Jeep opening the door to see Jeff sitting on top of Thomas, his blood-soaked hands pressing on Thomas’s wound.

“How is he?” I asked although I already knew the answer was not good.

“We need to get him back to the Glade immediately,” Jeff said, “I’m applying pressure to the wound but I don’t know if the bullet is still in there. I know his going to need stitches. I need Clint, this isn’t a one-man job.”

“Can we do anything now?” Gally asked standing next to me.

Jeff shook his head, “we don’t have half of the things we need.”

I sighed, rubbing my hands against my face, “we need to go after Newt and Lyn.”

“We can’t,” Jeff said frantically, “we don’t have time to go after them, Thomas might die if he doesn’t get any help. I need Gally to drive the car and you are not able to go after them alone.”

“His right,” Gally said, “look I know this is hard but at least we know the group that took them. It was the Wild Ones.”

“How do you know that?”  I asked feeling my anger rise. I didn’t like the idea of not doing anything.

“Did you see the white insignia they had on the hood of the car. Kat told me about it before. It was definitely them,” Gally sounded so confident that I wanted to believe him. “Look we’ll go back to the Glade and look after Thomas. We’ll talk to Alby and plan a rescue mission. We can ask Kat to lead us to the Wild Ones and then we will take them back.” 

I rubbed my hands over my face again, trying to follow the logic in Gally’s plan while all I wanted to do was chase after the two cars and get my friends back.

“Guys,” Jeff said breaking into my thoughts, “Thomas isn’t looking to good and we’ve still got about a two-hour drive in front of us, we’ve got to go now.”

Glancing down at Thomas’s pale face, his blood-soaked shirt and the stains all over the back seat of the jeep I knew what I had to do.  

 “Let’s go,” I said patting Gally on the back before walking over to my car. I heard Gally’s door close, the engine turn over and watched as Gally took off as fast as the car could go. I jumped back into the driver’s seat, turned on the car and sighed while thinking about what had happened.   

The Wild One’s, if that’s who they were, didn’t try to steal any of the wood we had gathered. They didn’t even seem interested in it. They had a purpose to their mission.

Driving up the street they had gotten close enough for one of the members to get out and grab Lyn. They had gone straight for her. Did they know who she was? Did they know what she could do? Judging by her reactions, she didn’t know them but that didn’t mean too much WICKED had wiped her memory after all.

It didn’t matter anyway, Lyn was a Glader now, even if the Wild One’s did know her, we would be getting Newt and her back. She was one of us now.

Continuing to follow Gally back to the Glade I listed my priorities. First, we had to save Thomas, then we would go after Newt and Lyn.

I took a deep breath, trying to centre myself as I drove as fast as I could back to the Glade, one thing I knew for sure, this had been a shucking horrible day and it wasn’t even over yet.  


	37. THIRTY SEVEN - LYN

My head felt so heavy, my eyelids felt like lead and wouldn’t open. I knew I felt so weak because of using my sixth sense on the run, I had even passed out.  I must be back in the med-jack building.  The bed was so soft, I wanted to roll over and curl back up to sleep. After a successful first run I think I deserved a sleep in.

Something in my subconscious was fighting against my will to sleep. There was something I needed to remember but my mind was working so slowly.  I remember piling supplies into the back of the jeep and then driving around to the second building where we started to gather the supplies and then…

I sat up in an instant, my body protesting my quick movements, my head spinning so quickly that I nearly blacked out again but I fought it off.  When my eyes finally focused I was able to work out that I was in an unknown room.  The walls appeared to be made out of grey stone, there was a chest of draws in one of the corners, a gigantic mirror placed above it.  I was in the middle of the room on a double bed, the sheets were black with a grey doona on top. Looking beside me, I saw a bedside table with knickknacks placed on top of it. I couldn’t see any windows and there was only one door, which surely must have been guarded.  Taking in the room again, I couldn’t help but feel as though I had been put in someone’s bedroom.

Glancing down at myself, I noticed that I was still dressed in Sonya’s borrowed clothes. The only thing missing were all the weapons. The shoulder holster was gone along with the two guns, the knife on my wrist was also missing and I couldn’t feel the one in my boot anymore. I did notice that I still had my watch on, glancing at the time I saw it was six in the morning. Had I been out for a couple of hours or had I been out for a couple of days again, I was unsure. While taking in my surroundings I hadn’t noticed my weapons laying around somewhere which means whoever took me must have taken them from me.

Why had they taken me?

Where the hell was I?

Searching my mind, trying to remember how I had gotten here I came up empty but I did remember something important. I wasn’t alone. Looking around I couldn’t see Newt in the room with me.  My mind screamed at me not to do it, I was still so exhausted but I knew he must have been here somewhere. I needed to find him. 

Closing my eyes, I mentally reached out. Searching for the familiar feeling of Newt, the feeling of comfort and safety that he often provided me.  I finally managed to zero in on his energy sensing the orange dot I associated with him on the other side of the building.  I tried to focus on him, tried to visualise exactly where he was but I was struggling. In the end my mind couldn’t cope and I felt myself on the verge of passing out again so I stopped.  I would just have to find him the old-fashioned way.

I swung my legs off the bed and pushed myself to my feet, immediately I fell back down on the bed.  I was still running on empty, my body aching with every movement. My mind begging me to go back to sleep but I wouldn’t stop until I found Newt.

Taking a deep breath, I centred myself and tried to stand again, this time I moved cautiously at a slower pace. I silently cheered when I managed to stay upright.  Walking carefully towards the only exit I tried to make no sound, I couldn’t hear anyone outside. I couldn’t even sense anyone in the hallway, it shocked me that they would leave this place so unguarded.    I decided I would move cautiously but I would still keep moving forward, I had to find Newt.

I opened the door, creaking it open slowly as I peered out at the deserted hallway.  Walking forward, I focused on Newt’s energy and kept moving towards it, making sure I wouldn’t encounter anyone else on the way.  Looking around as I went I saw the whole place seemed like a grey stone labyrinth, there were fire torches on the walls providing light as I made my way through the twist and turns.  Looking at some of the rooms, I was stunned to see metal bars, separating the room from the hallway, curtains had been draped behind them offering privacy. 

I think I was in a prison.

I kept walking past what must have been the living quarters, all the time focusing on Newt, trying to get to him.

I paused in my creeping as I sensed movement around Newt’s orange dot. He wasn’t moving but there were white dots moving towards him and surrounding him.  Not knowing what was going on and not being able find him with my mind and see what was happening. I put on a burst of speed trying to get to him.

I moved quickly, turning left and right and then left again, trying to navigate the labyrinth. My body was still protesting as I pushed it past it’s limits but I would not stop, I needed to find Newt.

I rounded another corner and had to jump back, I could just see them in front of me a group of people standing there in front of a cell.  I couldn’t tell how many were there, I couldn’t even make out any of their appearances, mainly I could just see black clothes and varying lengths of black hair as they stood with their backs towards me.

Glancing around I noticed this part of the prison, looked like a prison, there were no curtains placed behind the bars to offer privacy.  In the cells I could see I noticed there was only a thin mattress on the floor and a metal toilet to the side.

Why had they put Newt in a cell while I was placed in a nice bedroom. Nothing was making sense and my mind was too tired to try and work anything out.

Peering around the corner I watched them looking into one of the cells. I couldn’t see Newt but I knew he must have been in there, straining my ears I managed to hear their quiet conversation.

“They didn’t know he was infected when they grabbed him,” one of the guys spoke his voice deep with a bit of a twang to it.

Infected? Infected with what?

“It looks like he had a cut on his arm,” a female voice spoke up, for some reason the voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t focus on it. I had to work out what they were talking about while staring at Newt.

“Will he survive” a new masculine voice asked.

Survive? Survive what? I could barely hold myself behind the wall anymore. I just wanted to run over, push past them all and see Newt with my own eyes but I knew I had to wait.

“I don’t know,” said another man with the deepest voice yet, “we’ll keep an eye on him. Only time will tell.”

I heard a commotion and hid back behind the wall as girl ran down the hallway, I only caught a glimpse of her, the main thing I noticed was her very short hair, cropped close to her head and that she seemed to be a teenager around my age. 

“She’s gone,” the girl panted, “that girl, Evelyn she’s gone.”

“What?” the other girl said in her oh so familiar voice, “we’ve got to find her.”

How did they know my name? I wondered as I watched the people, gathered around Newt’s cell, run back up the hallway, moving away from me and away from Newt.

 Once I was sure they were far enough away I took a tentative step forward, followed by another one and another until I was in front of Newt’s cell.  The moment I caught sight of him I froze.

He was asleep, lying on the thin mattress, one arm by his side the other resting on his chest. His legs were straight, hanging off the edge of the mattress, showing his height, he was still dressed in the clothes from the run. His head was turned towards me, his eyebrows were furrowed in pain, his face scrunching up and smoothing over repeatedly. What made tears well in my eyes were the black veins covering his skin in spiderweb patterns.

The new people had mentioned he was infected, did they mean he had the Flare virus, the one that turned you into a Crank. Was Newt becoming a Crank? Was the kind, gentle Newt going to turn into a bloodthirsty monster?  I moved along the cell until I found the door and tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. I kept trying to open it until I gave up instead I began hitting it and kicking it trying to break it open.

Tears fell down my face during my struggle, I kept fighting the stupid metal bars separating me from Newt. I kept fighting until my legs gave out and I fell to the floor. My arms still gripping the metal bars.  My body ached, my head felt like it was going to explode, too much had happened.

“Newt,” I whispered, “I’m here with you. Okay?  You’re going to be okay.”  I didn’t know if he could hear me but I hoped he could.  Looking at his furrowed eyebrows and the pained expression on his face, I wished I could be in there to smooth out the wrinkles and offer him comfort.

 I was so distracted by Newt that I didn’t notice when someone appeared behind me. It was one of the guys from earlier. I recognised his black clothes. He was facing me now and I could distinguish more about him. He also looked young, maybe in his early twenties, his pale skin stood out in stark contrast to his black jeans and shirt coupled with a black leather jacket. His black hair appeared to be cut short but at the front it hanged longer framing the sides of his face. Highlighting his bright blue eyes, the same colour as the sky outside.

“Where am I?” I asked backing up against the metal bars, I didn’t want to leave Newt alone. “Who are you?” I demanded.  I tried to use my sixth sense again to work out if there were more people coming, I knew I shouldn’t have but I had to try. My head exploded in pain and I felt my vision swim with black spots as I began to sway and fall towards the ground.

The last thing I saw, was a look of confusion fall upon his face, as he took a step closer he asked in his deep voice, “you don’t remember me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting you know Newt's going to be fine, I won't go into how he pulls through cause that will be spoilers but you will find out how soon :D


	38. THIRTY EIGHT - MINHO

“Calm down,” I said putting my hand on Thomas’s good shoulder and forcing him to lay back down. Teresa had just told him that Newt and Lyn had been taken and he was all ready to jump out of bed and go find them. Which I totally admired but the shank was injured and would be doing no one any favours if he just jumped out of his sick bed and hurt himself again.

“How long have I been out?” he asked, he was laying down now but I could feel a tension in him so I didn’t remove my hand.

“It’s been a couple of hours,” Teresa said from her seat next to him. The girl had been a big help when it came to treating Thomas, she had kept her emotions in check and followed Clint’s instructions to the letter.  “You got back here at about six o’clock last night, Minho and Gally then had to carry you over the mountain which took some time, you had lost a lot of blood by the time you arrived at the med-jack room for Clint to stitch you up.”

“Why haven’t you gone after them yet?” Thomas yelled at me and began struggling against my hold again.

“Would you lie down and stop moving,” I yelled forcing him back down against the bed. He let out a hiss of pain and while a small part of me felt sorry for causing him pain, a bigger part was annoyed at him. “You’ll be no use to anyone if you don’t heal.”

“We need to find them,” Thomas said a new emotion in his voice one that I instantly recognised, it was desperation.

“We will,” I said patting him gently on the shoulder and letting him go, “Gally knows who took them, it was the Wild Ones. Katrina used to be a member and I’m sure will be willing to take us to their group.  Anyway, I talked to Alby about it and he decided we should have a gathering.” I tried to keep the annoyance out of my tone as I repeated what Alby had told me, “The gathering is scheduled in about,” I glanced at my watch saw that it was now six o’clock in the morning, “two more hours.”

“Why is he waiting?” Thomas asked incredulously, “couldn’t he have woken everyone up and called an emergency gathering”

I spoke through clenched teeth, as I fought against my anger towards Alby. “That’s what I said. Alby believed we needed to wait to make sure you were going to be okay first. Apparently, you are a witness and need to give your statement about what happened.”

What I decided to leave out was I then got into a massive argument with him and put my fist through a wall as I left his room.

“Look,” I said turning back to Thomas, “we will win the vote and take as many abled-bodied people as we can in order to get them back.”

Thomas nodded but it looked like he didn’t believe me.

“We’ll find them,” Teresa said taking his hand in hers.  Now feeling like I was intruding upon a moment between them, I decided to leave and head back to my room, maybe get a little shut eye.

As I left the med-jack building, I noticed someone sitting on one of the benches by the unlit firepit. Sonya was staring up at the sky and I caught sight of tear tracks glistening down her cheeks. I stood watching her for a moment before taking a deep breath and walking over to her. I couldn’t imagine the emotions that must have been going through her right now, her brother was out there in the unknown.  Who knew what could be happening to the two of them.

Hearing my approach, she quickly wiped her face before turning to look towards me, I met her teary eyes and offered her a small smile.

“How ya holding up?” I asked as I sat next to her.

“I don’t know,” she replied, her voice wavering as she spoke, “Aris keeps asking me that as well. It got so annoying I came out here for some fresh air.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” I saw a ghost of a smile before it vanished, “I sort of keep waiting for him to walk out. He’s never not been here you know.”

I nodded knowing she needed to talk rather than listen to me.

“Whenever I needed to talk to someone he was always around, if I needed help he was always close by.”

“We’re going to find him,” I said in a stern voice.

“How can you be so sure? What if something has already happened to him?”

“Sonya,” I said pulling her out of her dark spiral, “we are going to find him. He is going to be okay. You just have to trust that he knows how to look after himself. I’m sure right now he is fighting just as hard to get back home to you.”

“I just want him to come home,” she broke out into sobs and I wrapped my arms around her offering comfort.

Most of the people in the Glade had lost their family at a young age and I don’t mean their family died, I mean out in the scorch it was easy to get left behind.  I know of at least five Gladers who told me they hoped their brother or sister was still out there.  Listening to how they were going to find them one day.

I wasn’t to sure about that but I never burst their bubble, it was good to have a dream and a goal.  

Newt and Sonya were the first siblings I ever met in the Scorch.  We were all younger back then and I remember being amazed at Newt’s strength during our first meeting. The two of them had lost their parents in a battle against WICKED.  WICKED apparently had been after Sonya but Newt took her and ran.  At that young age they had managed to get away from WICKED, that was real impressive.

The two of them had been on their own for a few months after that, they stuck together and they survived.  I think that’s why Newt always said stuff like ‘we survive together’ not that I minded the saying, it kept the Gladers working together in peace.

They had managed to stay together because Newt would never let Sonya go.  Back before we had found the Glade anywhere Sonya went, Newt demanded to go too, where ever Newt was sent he dragged Sonya with him.  It used to annoy Alby to no end but he always allowed it, I suppose it was the only way to get Newt to do something.

It was only after we found the Glade that Newt let Sonya stay behind, trusting that this place was safe enough for his little sister.  Sonya never went on runs after she had become Harriet’s second in command, something Newt loved about her role.

I knew Sonya wished Newt wouldn’t go out anymore, she thought after he hurt his leg he would have stopped but he hadn’t. I think Newt needed to feel useful and going on a run allowed him that.

Sonya was still shaking in my arms when I noticed Aris walking towards us, a grim expression on his face, he sat down on the bench behind Sonya.  Carefully I pulled her arms from around me and turned her towards Aris, whom she quickly latched on to.

Aris wrapped his arms around her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. Glancing over at me, he gave a small nod signalling I could leave him to look after her. I nodded back at him as I stood up and walked towards my room.

I hadn’t slept at all since we had arrived home from the run. I was too busy fighting with Alby about going after Newt and Lyn.  Once I won that argument I had stayed with Teresa by Thomas’s side hoping he would wake up sooner rather than later.

 I had told Alby the greenies weren’t ready to go on a run and I was right. On their first run one of them had managed to get shot and the other was missing. If we ever got Lyn and Newt back this might be a story we laugh about one day. 

If we didn’t get them back….

I stopped myself there. I would not rest until we got them back one way or another.  Newt has always been there for me and I will always be there for him. If he needed me I would find him.  Slapping my face, I walked into my room and collapsed onto my bed.     

My last thought before I fell to sleep was, we will find them.


	39. THIRTY NINE - THOMAS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another new point of view, let me know what you think :D

I was up and walking around the med-jack room which made me happy. I was currently trying to prove to Clint and Teresa that I was okay and able to go to the gathering. Clint himself was going to be there so if I broke a stitch or something he could help straight away.

I admit I was a little worried that I was pushing myself a little too soon. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I had been shot. But I needed to get up, I needed to be a part of the rescue mission. I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest completely until Lyn was back with us, back at WICKED it had been the three of us, out in the scorch, the three of us, we had joined the Glade together. It had always been the three of us.

After being given the all clear from Clint, Teresa walked with me to the cafeteria, I found a seat while she went to grab breakfast.

“Heard you got shot?” Frypan said appearing behind me.

“Just a little,” I replied.

“Gotta be more careful next time,” he said smiling before he turned serious, “you’ve gotta get them back.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Minho said appearing around the other side of the table, he was pulling out a chair and sitting down, “we will.”

“Good that,” Frypan said and walked away.

“Newt mentioned to me once,” Minho said leaning in over the table to talk to me quietly, “you thought Lyn might have been held captive at FEAR. Why do you think that?”

I sat back a little shocked that Minho knew that as well as wondering why that was important.

“She had dreams of being held captive,” I replied slowly thinking of every word before I said it. “She often thought it was just because of the situations she had gone through at WICKED but they all seemed to have a similar theme. Being in a small cage, men in white lab coats, even Cranks would frequently appear. One night I talked to Newt about the different groups, he mentioned FEAR as being one of the worst, so I figured maybe that’s where she was. Why are you asking?”

Minho leaned back in his chair before scooting around to get closer. He spoke in a hushed voice, “I haven’t told anyone yet but I think the Wild Ones’, the people who attacked us yesterday,” he clarified when he saw I didn’t understand who he was talking about, “came with a purpose.  They drove right up to us, never made a move to steal our resources or cars. They went straight for Lyn.”

“You mean they went there for her?”

“I think so,” Minho said rubbing the back of his head, “but how could they know she would be there? It doesn’t make sense.”

    I was about to ask another question when Teresa came back a tray of food in her hands. Minho sat back in his chair, “mmm, that smells delicious. I’ve got to grab some.” He stood up, patted me on the shoulder and walked off.

“What was that about?” Teresa said watching him leave, she turned back to me with a confused look on her face.

“Nothing,” I replied reaching forward to grab a piece of fruit, “just checking to make sure I feel alright.”

“Okay,” she said accepting my answer as she dug into breakfast.  I didn’t want to lie to Teresa but I also didn’t want to worry her. I knew she was worried about Lyn and didn’t want to make it any worse.

It wasn’t long before Minho was back, clapping me on the shoulder telling me it was time for the gathering.

“Are you sure I can’t come?” Teresa said again as we walked her to the front of the med-jack building.

“You won’t be allowed in,” Minho replied with his hands on his hips. “The only reason Thomas is allowed in this time is because he’s a witness, saw some of what happened. That’s the only reason Jeff’s allowed in as well otherwise Keepers only.”

Teresa nodded before saying goodbye and walking into the med-jack building. We were halfway to the Keeper Hall when Katrina spotted us and ran over. I hadn’t had much interaction with her but I knew she had spent a bit of time with Lyn during the past few days.  

“Is what they’re saying true?” she panted the moment she reached us. “Are Newt and Lyn gone?”

Minho and I didn’t say a thing, we didn’t have to, she could tell the answer from our expressions. 

“What are we going to do?” she said falling into step with us as we continued to walk towards the Keeper Hall.

“We’re going to go after them of course,” Minho replied not missing a beat, I glanced at him and saw the determination on his face.  “As Newt always says, we survive together, we need them to help us survive. We’re getting our Glader’s back.”

“Are you sure Alby’s going to agree with you?” Katrina asked.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Minho said dismissing her concern. 

We reached the Hall and Katrina pulled the door open for us, just as I was passing through she asked, “is it true you were shot.”

I grimaced, preferring not to think about the pain in my shoulder, “does everyone know?”

“Gally told me,” she said before smiling, “then I told everyone else.”

“Don’t worry man,” Minho said clapping me on the back as I walked into the gathering room, “it’s badass. You got shot and survived. Badass.”

I shook my head, I was pretty sure Minho was making fun of me. My suspicions were confirmed when I caught him winking at Katrina. 

Once again, I was sitting in the middle of the circle, surrounded by Keeper’s on every side. The only thing different from the two other times I had been here was that it was Jeff sitting behind me, not Lyn.

As I had done for every other gathering I turned around to stare at Alby, I felt a wave of sadness as I noticed Newt’s empty seat. I caught sight of Sonya and noticed that Aris was standing behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder. That was new but one look at her face told me why. She looked as though she had been crying all night, her eyes were red and puffy.

“Okay everyone,” Alby said standing up and starting the gathering, “we’re here today to assess what happened during yesterday’s run.”

“And about a rescue mission,” Sonya added in a hoarse voice when Alby stopped talking.

I thought I saw a look of guilt flash over his face before he continued talking, he completely ignored Sonya’s interruption and I started to feel a little worried.

“Minho Keeper of the Runner’s,” Alby said taking Newt’s job, “would you care to tell us all what happened.”

Minho stood up and recounted the events of yesterday. He mentioned everything from our drive, to our scouting mission to picking up the piles of supplies.  He mentioned everything that had happened including how Lyn would check all the buildings before we entered. Gally also interrupted to add how she had helped him and Jeff avoid two Crank’s that were heading in their direction.

Finally, Minho got to recounting the gun fight, I took a deep breath as he recalled the events. I didn’t have a lot to add to this section since I was out for most of it.  Gally interrupted again to mention the cars and the insignia on the bonnets which Katrina confirmed was a symbol of the Wild Ones.

“I believe they were specifically targeting Lyn,” he said at the end of his speech. “They went straight for her. I think they only took Newt because he went to help her.”

“You think they knew what she could do?” Harriet asked from her seat.

“I don’t know,” Minho replied, “from her reaction it was obvious she didn’t know them.”

“You don’t think she was acting?” Alby asked.

“Why would she,” I butted in, Alby shot me a glare.

“Does it matter,” Minho countered, “we know who took them, we have someone who knows where their base camp is, all we need now is a group of people to go get them.”

“I’m not so sure,” Alby said glancing away from everyone.

“What do you mean?” Sonya said standing up, “we’re going to go after them right.”

“It’s not safe,” Alby yelled, “we can’t risk sending more people out!”

“You’re going to leave them out there!” Sonya yelled running towards Alby, it was only thanks to Aris’s quick reaction that he managed to catch her before she reached him.  Conversations broke out amongst the Keepers, no one knew what to say or what to do.

Sonya turned a devastated face towards the rest of the room, tears silently streaming down her face. Glancing back at Minho I saw his hands were fisted at his sides, squeezed in anger.  This wasn’t right, how could he abandon his second in command like that?

“Are you kidding me right now?” Minho said, voice deadly low, “you’d better be.” 

“Newt knew the risks,” Alby called over the top of the commotion, “everyone knows the risk when they go out for a run, sometimes you don’t make it back. I am not willing to risk other people to save two, where is the sense in that?”

Minho ran at Alby and it was only chance that I managed to catch him, probably not a good thing considering my arm but Gally was soon there to help me restrain him.

“Calm down,” Gally growled at Minho but he wasn’t listening, instead he began to yell.

“We don’t need your permission,” he shouted, “I’ll find people on my own and we’ll go ourselves. You don’t leave people behind when you know they’re still alive.”

“Do you know that though?” Alby questioned yelling back at Minho, “how can you be sure they’re alive?” at this statement Sonya let out a loud sob.

“Of course, they’re alive,” Minho yelled back, “and I’m going to find them.”

“No, you’re not,” Alby shouted, “no one is allowed to leave the Glade. From now on we’re on lockdown.” The room fell silent at that comment, everyone looking towards Alby as he stormed from the room calling, “the gathering is over.”

Minho stilled in my arms, a quick glance at his face showed me his mind was working a million miles a minute trying to think of anther plan. I myself was trying to come up with a million escape plans to break out of the Glade and find them myself.

“I’ll talk to him,” Harriet said and rushed after him.

Soon all the shell-shocked Keepers began to disperse, leaving only a few remaining.  Katrina, Sonya and Aris, moved towards the three of us in the middle. Gally and I released Minho and took a step back.

“What’s the plan?” Katrina said looking between Minho and me, “we can’t sit around and do nothing.”

“Of course not,” Minho said a dangerous smile appearing on his face, “what Alby doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about, I felt a smile pull at my lips too and I knew it wasn’t a happy one.

“What are you talking about?” Aris said over Sonya’s head, his arms were still wrapped around her.

“He means,” I said looking around at the gathered Gladers faces, “we’re going to rescue them.” 


	40. FORTY - LYN

A loud thump brought me out of my sleep, I panicked when I heard unfamiliar voices break out into shushing noises all around me.  As fear moved through me I tried to move, run, anything to get away from the kidnappers. But I couldn’t move, I had never recovered properly after using my sixth sense on the run.  My body felt extremely heavy, my head was pulsating with pain and felt so hot. I felt the bed dip down as someone sat next to me, a cold rag was gently placed over my forehead.

“Is she okay?” an unfamiliar male voice whispered and I heard movement as though he was just walking into the room. I tried to open my eyes and wasn’t surprised to find them not working either. I was getting a little tired of waking up like this.

“I don’t know,” said a deep male voice I recognised from before I had passed out. 

“You said she didn’t know you,” the familiar female voice was back, closer than the others. She was most likely the person sitting on the bed.

“She asked who I was,” the deep voice replied, “I don’t understand how she would have forgotten us.”

Forgotten them, had I ever known them? All I knew was that Newt was somewhere in the building and he was hurting. I needed to get up and go to him.

I tried again to move my body or open my eyes, I think I managed to twitch my arm.

“She’s waking up,” a new male voice spoke sounding excited.

I willed my eyelids to move, blinking them rapidly to try and focus.  Surrounding me were five guys all staring down with different expressions. I screamed and my body found the will to move as I scooted as far back as I could until my back hit the headboard.

My eyes darted around the room taking everything in.  There were five guys standing around, the tallest one in the room I recognised from before I passed out.  He stood about a good head taller than the rest.  Looking at the other four guys in the room I noticed they were all dressed similar, in different shades of black clothes, with different lengths of black hair, as though there was a dress code. 

“Who are you?” I said glancing around the room, the men who had been surrounding me earlier had all moved away from the bed when I screamed.

The only person who had remained close to me was the girl, she hadn’t moved an inch, which caught my attention. Turning towards her I felt she looked familiar, her light blue eyes shone with emotion, her auburn hair fell down around her shoulders. There was a small smile on her lips which unnerved me a little.  I definitely felt that I had seen her before but where.

“Juliet,” I murmured without thinking as I stared at her. She looked just like an older version of the girl from my dream the other night.

Her face lit up, “you remember me,” she whispered in awe, her voice saturated with emotions.

I shook my head and saw her smile drop a little, “I don’t know who you are.”

“Then how did you know her name?” asked the tallest man in the room.

I thought about whether I should answer, the expression on her face had me whispering, “I saw you in a dream.”

“Evie,” she said, reaching out and moving closer to me.

I backed away until I was off the bed and standing against the wall. My sudden movement seemed to surprise everyone, myself included. “How do you know that name?” I said shocked at her calling the nickname Newt had given me.

Her face saddened as she watched me but she made no move to get off the bed. “It’s me, Juliet. I’m your older sister.”

I felt my head shake and looked down to see that the rest of my body had also begun to tremble. That’s impossible. Did that mean my dream the other night was a memory? But she had been taken away by those guys. I had been in a cage; how did I get out the cage? If that had been a memory, how had WICKED taken me? There were too many questions and I felt myself start to freak out, the tremble in my body had begun to turn into a full-blown shake. I tried to take a deep breath but instead of being calming, it was shaky and shallow. I needed Thomas here to help me make sense of what was happening.

I needed Newt to help me calm down, to tell me everything was going to be alright.  Thinking about Newt made me remember where he was and how much he needed someone right now.  I closed my eyes and this time, I managed to take a deep, steadying breath. I looked back up at the people who supposedly knew me.

Trying to stop my body from shaking, ignoring the girl who claimed to be my sister, I looked straight at the person who found me earlier. “Where is Newt?” 

“Newt?” replied one of the other guys, who was standing close to the door.  This guy was tall and thin; he was probably the second tallest in the room. He had long black hair falling past his shoulders, a black and white bandana was tied around his forehead, the rest of his outfit seemed to be the signature black jeans and shirts everyone else was sporting. He appeared to be confused about who I was talking about. His eyebrows drawn together in confusion over the top of his brown eyes. 

“Yes Newt,” I replied taking a step away from the wall, “the boy who you kidnapped along with me.”

“Whoa,” said another one of the guys, drawing my attention to him, he also happened to be the only one wearing another colour besides black. He was wearing black jeans, and a denim jacket, I couldn’t make out his shirt as a red scarf was tied around his neck. His voice had a weird sort of twang that I couldn’t place. His hands were raised in a surrender position. His black hair fell to his shoulders in layers, his brown eyes wide in surprise. “We didn’t kidnap anybody.”

“We sort of did,” one of the other guys spoke up, he looked older than the others by a couple years. His black hair was cut short around the back and spiked up while his hair at the front was kept a little longer and sat flat to his head.  Again, he was dressed in the identical black outfit, the same as the others the only thing different about his outfit was the long silver cross he had hanging around his neck.

“No, we didn’t,” Bandana Man spoke up and I caught sight of a gap between his front two teeth.

“Yeah, we know Evelyn,” Denim Jacket interjected.

“Kidnapping is the same whether you know the person or not,” Metal Cross said.

I was watching as the conversation spiralled in to a different direction as the three of them began discussing what was counted as kidnapping and what wasn’t. I was getting fed up of this. I already knew where Newt was I could just make a run for it.

I must have made some movement towards the door as a new masculine voice broke into the conversation.

“She’s going to run for it,” the man in question was standing on the opposite wall in the shadows, his lingering brown eyes were looking straight at me.  His black hair was dead straight, falling to the top of his shoulders. He was dressed in black the same as the others, nothing about him stood out except for his eyes. I felt like he could see right through me.

Everyone in the room turned to look at me, my gaze kept flickering between the six of them and the door. Now that their attention was back on me I knew I would never be able to reach the door without one of them catching me.

“Where is Newt?” I said in a smaller voice. I just wanted Newt, “let me see him, please.”

“I don’t think you should see him,” Juliet said, she finally stood up from the bed and began to make her way over to me but the tall guy grabbed her arm stopping her from walking to far forward. She shot him a look before continuing, “he’s going through something at the moment and it’s not pretty.”

Glancing between the people in the room I recognised the looks of pity most of them were giving me. All except one. The tall guy, stood in the middle of the room, watching me, a calculating look on his face.

“You know he has the Flare,” he spoke in his deep voice, “so why do you want to see him? You might get the Flare too.”

“Andy –” Juliet said but the tall guy, Andy, cut her off.

“You saw him earlier. You know what that means. Are you prepared to risk the Flare to be with him?”

   “Yes,” I didn’t hesitate to answer. I knew I was already immune to the Flare that was why WICKED had wanted me.

“You know you’re immune,” the guy leaning against the wall said, his eyes still piercing into mine. I jumped at how he seemed to read my mind before holding my head up high. I wouldn’t be intimidated by them, I wouldn’t be intimidated by them, if I kept repeating this mantra maybe it would become true.

“How do you know?” Andy questioned taking a step closer, raising his eyebrows.

I was scared to mention the name WICKED especially after Gally and Alby’s reactions back at the Glade. But maybe I had to, these people kept making out that they knew me from before. Juliet even claimed to be my sister and after that dream I wasn’t sure if it was true or not.  I just needed to talk to someone I knew, maybe if I answered their questions they will let me see him.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth, “that’s why WICKED took me,” I said, looking at each of them to see their reaction at this news. I didn’t expect the reaction I got.

“WICKED,” Juliet breathed her blue eyes brimming with tears.

“I told you,” Bandana Man called across the room, “I told you, when we saw the destroyed truck, I told you WICKED would have taken her. If we had been a minute earlier we could have grabbed her but we were too late.”

What was he talking about? What was going on? I was barely able to follow everything he was saying. My head was still thumping and my thought process had slowed down to a trickle. I could only really focus on one thing and that thing was reaching Newt.

“That’s enough CC,” Denim Jacket said looking towards Juliet who was still looking at me with tear filled eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered reaching out for me but she didn’t take a step closer, “I am so sorry I wasn’t there. Oh Evelyn.”  The man Andy pulled Juliet into a hug, his face paler than before. I guess he hadn’t expected my answer.

   “How do I know you?” I replied, still standing next to the wall, “WICKED wiped my memories. I don’t remember anything from before they took me.”

Juliet sobbed louder into Andy’s chest while the rest of the guys looked at me with shock.

“You mean you weren’t pretending not to know us,” Bandana Man, who must have been CC, asked in a small voice.

“You thought I was pretending? Why would I pretend?”  I sensed someone walking down the hallway, scared that someone new was going to walk in the room. I turned towards the door, waiting for the new person to enter.  Andy turned to look at the door as well, he turned back to me with eyebrows raised when he saw nothing was there but then after another second there was knock.  

“Go away,” Andy said still staring at me, the person on the other side stood there for a second before walking away.  I glanced back at the room, Andy was still watching me, “did you know someone was coming?”

“Maybe,” I replied not sure if I should mention my sixth sense.

“Is that how you managed to navigate the prison in order to find your friend?”

I stayed silent.

“She has an ability too,” CC said quietly, moving closer to Andy.

“What do you mean too?” I said asking my own question.

“I think we’ve got a lot of explaining to do but maybe you would like to see your friend first,” Andy replied.

I didn’t hesitate to nod, I really wanted to see Newt.   


	41. FORTY ONE - LYN

We all waited in silence as Cross Man and Piercing Eyes went to get Newt.  I was still standing in the corner refusing to relax until I could see Newt and I got some answers.  The others had all gathered together on the other side of the bed, giving me some space, which I was thankful for.  They claimed to know me and I felt terrible because I didn’t remember them. Could these people help fill in the blanks of my missing memory?

Juliet had stopped crying, lines of mascara were running down her cheeks and she made no effort to wipe them away. She claimed to be my sister and she could be, the dream I had was of the two of us and I had thought of her as my sister. It must be true because I couldn’t work out how I could have dreamed about her if I had never seen her before. 

  Andy was talking in whispers to her, his arm rubbing up and down her back in comfort, the two of them seemed close. He was still watching me though, his expression blank but from the look in his eyes I knew his mind must be going a hundred miles an hour trying to work out what was going on? Whether they could trust me or maybe he was thinking about lunch, I didn’t know him enough to guess his thoughts.

Denim Jacket and CC were just standing there, staring at me. When I caught them, they had the decency to look away but it wasn’t long before they were staring again. 

“Look,” Denim Jacket said taking a step forward into the space between them and me, everyone’s eyes turned to him. “Since Evelyn doesn’t remember anything from before WICKED I think some re-introductions are needed.”  I just watched him as he pointed to himself, “my name is Ashley,” he pointed to the tall man with Juliet, “that’s Andy and the guy in the corner is CC,” he finished pointing to Bandana Man.  “You seem to remember a little bit about your sister Juliet, at least you said her name.  The two guys who left to get your friend are Jinxx and Jake.”

“How do I know you?”

“When you were ten,” Juliet said in a quiet voice, turning around from Andy’s arms to face me, “we were out looking for food with our family.  I had gone out further and you went searching for me, that’s when we were captured,” tears were in her eyes again.

“Captured?” I repeated before I recalled Thomas’s theory, “by FEAR?”

Juliet nodded, “we were there a few months just the two of us. Then they brought in Andy. Then a few months later they brought in Ashley, then Jake, then Jinxx and finally they captured CC. One by one over the next few years they brought in different people. Some would vanish after a little while and we never saw them again.”

“Why did they capture us?” I asked in a small voice. I remember listening to Newt telling Thomas about the different groups, FEAR was one of the worst.  He said they collected Cranks and he had even heard rumours of human experimentation.

The room grew silent and I wondered if they were going to answer my question.  Finally, Andy spoke up.

“We’re not sure,” he said but wouldn’t meet my gaze, “we think they were exposing people to the Flare virus and waiting for them to turn into Cranks.” That could have explained the dream I had were I was thrown into a room with a Crank. Andy kept speaking, “that’s why some of the people they captured vanished and others like us remained because we were immune.”

“You’re immune too?” I said glancing at each of them.

“We are,” Ashley said it looked like he was going to say more but then thought better of it.

“How did we get out?” I asked looking at them all, clearly free of FEAR.

Juliet didn’t answer, she looked down at the ground. I thought I caught a look of shame on her face, turning to look at the others I saw similar expressions on all of their faces.

 “What? What happened?”  I pressed taking a step forward. The four of them shared a look, their expressions still guilt ridden.  I felt fear run through my body, why did they look so guilty. What were they hiding?

The door to the room opened and I jumped to see Cross Man and Piercing Eyes walking back through, Newt was between them laying down on a stretcher.  All my worries about them hiding something vanished as I took in his appearance. He was still covered in black spiderwebs, his dirty blond hair plastered to his head, from sweat. I was stunned to see he was conscious. His eyes were open but they weren’t his familiar kind brown eyes, the pupil seemed to be black, his normally pink lips were tinged blue.

“Evie, you’re okay,” he sighed in relief, as the two guys carrying the stretched placed him on the bed and walked back to the others, giving us some space. His look of relief faded and a look of pain took its place, his eyes scrunching up as his back arched off the stretcher and a scream of pain passed his lips.

“Newt,” I ran over, dropping to my knees next to him. I placed my hand on his forehead and looked down at him. He looked worse than earlier but it didn’t look like what I had seen happen to Ben. Did the Flare virus affect people differently? He laid back down, flat on the bed. “You’re okay,” I murmured stroking his forehead, “you’re going to be okay.”

His breathing was ragged, his eyes still closed but he let out a small humourless chuckle, “I think you might be wrong about that.”  He opened his eyes, the once brown orbs were completely black as they looked up at me, he reached up and wiped away a tear that was falling down my cheek.  It was then he seemed to notice the other people in the room.

“Where are we?” he whispered softy.

I glanced back at the people gathered behind me, they were just watching us, sympathetic expressions on their faces, before I looked back at him “I don’t know but we’re safe.”  These people may have been hiding something but I don’t think they were going to hurt us.

Newt looked at me for a moment, searching my face before he seemed to accept my answer and nod his head.  He opened his mouth to say something when another look of pain crossed his face, this time he folded into himself, his legs coming up to his chest as he rolled to the side. I watched as he bit his lip to stop from crying out but tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

I reached out to him, grabbing his hand in mine.  He squeezed it so tight but I wouldn’t let go. Finally, the pain seemed to leave him as his body relaxed, his grip easing.

“Who are they then?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“Apparently, they know me,” I replied, “from before WICKED.  Remember my dream the other night.”

Newt’s eyes went wide but he nodded his head, “you said you might have a sister. You dreamt of an older sister.”

“That’s her,” I said pointing towards Juliet who was still keeping her distance. I also noticed she had a death grip on Andy’s hand.  

Newt looked over my shoulder, glancing between me and Juliet for a while before a small, weak smile appeared on his blue lips, “I can see the family resemblance.”

His smile vanished as another wave of pain took him, his body once again contorting in on itself, this time an agonizing scream broke free.  The pain seemed to last longer, all I could do was hold his hand, while I stroked his forehead and whispered calming words but I don’t think he could hear me over his screams.

Eventually his body began to relax again, his breathing evening out but his grip on my hand never loosened.

“I’m dying,” he whispered, eyes still not opening, “you need to take me to the scorch.”

“No,” I said, knowing what that meant in the Glade, tears were now overflowing and spilling down my face.  I looked down, I didn’t want to upset Newt with my crying but Newt couldn’t be dying.

Since meeting Newt, he had always looked out for me. That very first night we met, he had stayed in that uncomfortable chair all night, watching over me.  He had fought for us to be allowed to stay in the Glade, he had helped me deal with becoming a runner, listened to all my troubles and helped me makes sense of them. He told me I wasn’t a selfish person for trying to not remember my past.  He ran over to save me when I was getting kidnapped.

“Evie,” Newt said reaching over and lifting up my head. There were tears in his black eyes, his voice broke as he continued speaking “I don’t want to turn into a Crank.”

“You’re not turning into a Crank,” came a deep voice behind us.  I turned slightly to see Andy had taken a step closer, his face was serious, his blue eyes burning with an unknown emotion.

“What the bloody hell are you on about?” Newt said a hint of anger in his voice. I glanced back to see he was watching Andy, an exhausted look on his face, not matching his tone.  “I got attacked by a Crank, I’m pretty sure I’m not an immune if this is happening so of course I’m going to turn into one.”

Andy took a deep breath as he took another step forward, “you’re not turning into a Crank and Lyn you’re not an immune, not really.”

“What?” I said gripping Newt’s hand tighter.

“Of course, she’s an immune,” Newt argued struggling to sit up, “that’s why WICKED wanted her. It’s also why she didn’t turn when she got attacked by a Crank.”

“She’s wasn’t always immune,” Andy said.   

“Explain what the shuck you’re talking about,” Newt demanded and I caught him once again tyring to push himself up from the bed. Andy didn't answer. 

“Evelyn had the Flare,” Juliet said walking forward to stand next to Andy.


	42. FORTY TWO - LYN

I froze, my eyes widening as I turned around to face Juliet who was still looking guilty about something. “What do you mean I ‘had’ the Flare?”

            Once again, the people in the room shared a guilty look. They knew something more than they were letting on. The silence stretched, no one wanting to speak up. 

“Don’t all speak at once,” Newt said in a thready voice, the sarcasm was only just audible. “You’ve just told me that I’m not turning into a Crank. You’ve told Evie she’s both immune and not immune. Can someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on then?”  His last word became a yell of pain as once again his back arched off the bed, his eyes squeezed shut, his grip on my hand tightening. 

Slowly, his screams stopped, his body relaxed and his eyes opened, still breathing hard he looked over me to stare at the group gathered behind us.  I turned to face them too.

“Just tell them,” CC said as he pushed his way from the back of the group, “we can’t leave them in limbo. This clearly affects both of them.”

“CC,” Ashley hissed, shooting him a look, pulling him back.

“His right,” Piercing Eyes, who was either Jake or Jinxx spoke up, he didn’t move from his spot leaning against the wall though.

“I know,” Andy replied loudly as he turned to look at them running a hand through his black hair. “But it’s hard to know where to start.”

“How about the beginning,” Newt spoke up before he began coughing. I quickly helped him sit up so he could clear his lungs, his coughing fit sounded terrible. As the fit passed, he began to gasp for breath, pulling his hand away from his mouth, I noticed something horrible.  The side of his hand that he had held to his mouth was covered in a thick black substance.

“What the hell is that?” I asked as I looked around for a cloth, to wipe it away.  Juliet seeming to sense what I was after walked to the dresser and pulled out a white cloth which she quickly passed to me.  Grabbing Newt’s hand in mine, I didn’t hesitate to wipe it away.

“You say I’m not dying and yet I’m coughing up black klunk,” Newt said gesturing to the cloth in my hand.

“I never said you weren’t dying,” Andy replied slowly, his face dead serious.

I felt the blood drain from my face as I turned back to Newt, who if possible had gone even paler. I grabbed his hand in mine, squeezing it, trying to comfort him.

What was he saying? He said Newt wasn’t turning into a Crank, what did he mean he was dying.  I looked into Newt’s black eyes and noticed how scared he was.  Taking a deep breath but never letting go of Newt’s hand I turned towards Andy and Juliet.

“You better explain what is going on right now,” I said in a low tone, my patience was wearing out and I needed to know what was happening to Newt.  Once again, they shared looks and the last thread of my patience snapped. “JUST TELL ME!” I screamed at them.

Newt quickly squeezed my hand trying to calm me down, but I couldn’t stand it anymore. They knew something and they were keeping it secret.

“Okay,” Juliet said taking a step towards me, her arms outstretched as she tried to calm me down. “You may want to sit down.”

I took a seat next to Newt on the bed, he was still lying down, coughing occasionally, my hand still gripped tight in his.

“We know what Newt is going through,” Juliet began, as she too walked forward to sit on the end of the bed, she was still keeping a distance between us. “We know because you went through it too.”

Confusion ran through me as I glanced back at Newt who offered a comforting hand squeeze. I had already gone through what Newt was going through?

Juliet kept talking, “Andy, Ashley, Jake, Jinxx and CC have all been through it too.”

“When?”

“Back at FEAR,” Andy said moving forward to stand next to Juliet, his hand resting on her shoulder, offering his strength. She reached up and clasped it in hers. “Once you were deemed old enough they infected you too.”

“Old enough?” I questioned.

“When they first took us you were only ten,” Juliet began, “that was too young to infect you, they thought you would definitely die so they waited until you were fourteen.”

“We were there for four years!” I said a little too loudly.

No one in the room said anything all reliving their memories, in that regard I was lucky, their faces were all haunted from what they had been through. I couldn’t remember.

“So, at fourteen I was infected with the virus,” I said slowly trying to process the new information. It was then I remembered something.  Juliet hadn’t said her name earlier. “What about you? When did you get infected?” I said turning to Juliet.  

“I am truly immune,” Juliet said, “the Flare virus never effected me.”

“If I had the Flare virus why do you keep saying I’m immune?”

“Because you are now,” Juliet said reaching out her free hand towards me and resting it on the bed, I was thankful she still kept a little distance. “One way to become immune to a disease is to have it. Your body develops antibodies to defeat it, when you come in contact with it again, these antibodies quickly return to fight it off.  Meaning you can’t get the same disease twice.”

I nodded happy at the knowledge that now I truly was immune to the horrible disease but if I didn’t turn into a Crank what happened to me? What was happening to Newt if he wasn’t turning into a Crank. Would this make him immune? There were too many questions running around my head as I tried to make sense of everything.

“What did the Flare virus do to me if I didn’t turn into a Crank? Is that what’s happening to Newt? You said he wasn’t turning into a Crank.” 

“It starts by infecting your blood stream,” Andy began talking, he didn’t seem to be focused on us anymore, lost in his memories, “that’s what leads to the black veins, it’s like poison moving through your body everything hurts.”

As if on que Newt’s body spasmed again, his back arching right off the bed. Once again, he let out an agonizing scream.  When the pain passed, between catching his breath he let out a little smile, “black veins and pain, check.”

“It’s only going to get worse,” CC spoke from the other side of the room.  

“What do you mean?” he said before a coughing fit took him again. I quickly helped him sit up and rubbed his back in a soothing gesture as I held the cloth to his mouth. Gasping for breath he laid back down on the bed. 

“I mean this is really the second day of symptoms, there’s more to come, the changing lasts about a week.”

“The changing?” I asked as Newt groaned and looked distressed at the news it was only going to get worse.

“The Flare virus didn’t turn us into Cranks but it did change us,” Andy spoke again.  I looked at the guys surrounding me, they all looked normal to me.

Ashely watched me check them all out before letting out a small laugh, “it’s not that type of change Evie.”

“What are you talking about then? How is Newt changing?”

“How do you know I’m not turning into a Crank,” Newt said between coughs.

“It’s taken too long to get to this stage,” Andy spoke, “normally the day after you’ve been scratched, symptoms start to show up. That wound you’ve got on your wrist is at least a week old.  It’s affecting you slower which means there’s a greater chance that your reacting the same as us.”

“Like you?” Newt questioned before another coughing fit took him and he took my attention.  Helping him to sit up again, rubbing soothing circles on his back and holding the cloth to his mouth.

“The process is painful, extremely painful and it lasts at least a week. You’ll continue to get worse and worse, tomorrow will be twice as bad as this,” Andy said. “As I said it’s like a poison going through your veins, it touches every part of you, this is the same as when you turn into a Crank, it gets to your brain and changes it until you’re a rage filled, blood-lust crazed monster.”

“The poison is passing around your body now,” Cross Man spoke up, “and eventually it will reach your brain. The pain is unbearable, if you can live through that, you will have an ability like Evelyn, like us.”

“You can do something weird too?” I questioned turning back to them.

“It’s not weird,” Newt spoke up, before coughing.

“It’s not normal,” I replied, still rubbing his back as I looked over at the people surrounding us.

“We can,” Andy replied and left it there, I didn’t mind though because I wasn’t going to be offering up my weird talent. They had probably worked out it had something to do with knowing where people were but they didn’t know the extent of it. “As I said,” Andy continued, “the virus effects the brain, there’s just something different about our DNA that prevents it from changing us into Crank’s.”

“Instead we get some weird mind thing,” Ashley said from behind Andy. 

“And that’s what’s happening to me?” Newt asked, his grip on my hand tightened, a quick glance at him showed me his face hardened in pain.

“We think so,” Juliet said, “what’s happening to you fits with what happened to Evelyn and the guys.”

“So, if he can last the week he’ll be okay?” I asked in a small voice, squeezing Newt’s hand in both of mine now.

“Truthfully, if he can pull through the next few day’s he’ll be fine,” Andy replied a small smile on his face.

“I’m sure he’ll be alright, he looks like his made of tough stuff,” Ashley spoke up trying to ease the tension.

“Don’t worry,” I said turning back to Newt, looking directly into his black eyes. “I’ll stay with you the whole time, okay. We survive together, right?”

A small smile appeared on his tired face, “we survive together.”


	43. FORTY THREE - LYN

Newt yelled out in pain again, taking all of my attention as I watched his eyes squeeze shut, his body spasming with the pain.  All I could to was try to reassure him but knowing this was going to get worse over the next few days had me worried.  I couldn’t even begin to sort through what I had just been told.  He started to calm down, his body relaxing but he didn’t open his eyes, the pain was taking a lot of his energy away.

I pushed his sweat covered dirty blond hair out of his eyes and stroked his head, “you’re going to be fine,” I whispered before giving him a quick kiss on the forehead. Trying to let him know I was here with him. He mumbled a response but he was too tired.

“How long have you two been together?” I turned to see Juliet was still sitting on the end of the bed but the guys had vanished. As I looked around Juliet laughed, “the boys slipped out the room while you were watching Newt. You two look cute together.”

“We’re not together,” I said quickly feeling my cheeks heat up, I glanced down at Newt to see his eyes were still closed by there was a small blush on his cheeks too. “We’ve only known each other a few days.”

“Really,” she seemed a little shocked at my answer, “but you two seem so close.”

“Well we’ve been through a lot together,” he mumbled quietly. I remembered the past few days. Thinking about it I really hadn’t spent a lot of time at the Glade but Newt had been a part of nearly every waking moment. 

It grew silent between the three of us, Juliet and I just looked at each other and I thought Newt might have fallen asleep.

Looking at Juliet, I had to admit there were several similarities between our facial structures hers was a little rounder though and her eyes were blue while mine were green.  In the Glade no one had worn make up but I could tell Juliet was, her mascara had run earlier, her eyes were lined with charcoal, making her blue eyes pop. Her lips were bright red, standing out in stark contrast to her pale skin and black clothing.  Her auburn hair fell in waves down past her shoulders probably reaching the middle of her back.  She looked older than me by probably a couple of years.  Thomas had once said he thought I looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. 

“Do you remember how old I am?” I asked in a small voice.

“They even took that?”

I felt embarrassed as I nodded my head, refusing to meet her eyes, even though I could tell she was watching me.

I heard her sigh and felt the bed shift as she moved closer and wrapped an arm around me, I stiffened at the contact but eventually I relaxed, feeling comforted by the gesture. “You will be seventeen in a few months. There’s three years difference between us but we grew up being very close. It must be shocking to find out you have a sister.”

“It was strange when I had the dream,” I replied, I didn’t know if I wanted to tell her about my reaction afterwards. I had told Newt I didn’t want to remember her if my memories were that bad. “I didn’t know what I was seeing.  I saw a girl probably a few years older than me and just knew she was my older sister.  Even now while I know I don’t remember you, you seem familiar.”

I noticed Juliet raise her hand and wipe at her eyes, “well we’ll just have to make up lost time then,” she pulled me tighter against her side.

“I’d like that,” I replied feeing a smile pull at my lips. 

Newt’s coughing fit broke me from my thoughts as I turned back to him, he seemed to be half awake as I pulled him into a seated position and held the cloth to his mouth.  That’s when I remembered, I may have found my forgotten sister but I still had family back at the Glade. There was Thomas and Teresa they had looked after me ever since I had woken up at WICKED, I couldn’t just forget them.  Thomas had even been shot the other day, was he okay? Had he managed to pull through?

Newt settled back down against the bed, eyes closed, his breathing slowly evening out. I kept watching him stroking my fingers through his hair.   He just had to make it through the next few days, then he would be fine. He could do it. If I had somehow managed to survive I knew he could.

“How did you two met?” Juliet asked pulling me from my thoughts.

“We met a few days ago,” I said turning back to Juliet, “We had just escaped from WICKED.”

“Wait you escaped? Who’s this we? Was Newt there?”

“No,” I replied with a small laugh at all her questions, “while I was at WICKED I met Thomas and Teresa, they had been there for longer. A month ago, Thomas’s heard a rumour that they were going to transport him to another facility, so he planned to escape and when he made his move, he took us with him.”

“Where did you go from there?” 

“We wondered around the scorch for a few days, WICKED were still after us so we had to be careful and hide out. Eventually we came to a bit of trouble that’s when we met Minho, who literally saved me, he took us back to a bunker where Newt and a few others were. They decided to take us back to their group, where we were accepted and allowed to stay.” I may have glossed over a few details.

“Sounds like an adventure,” Juliet said smiling at me sadly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

It was quiet, the two of us sitting next to each other without saying a word. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask for a while now,” I said tentatively, “if we were altogether, how come I’m the only person who was taken by WICKED?”

Juliet looked down at the floor the look of shame and guilt back on her face, she looked up but still wouldn’t look at me. I could tell she was fighting with herself about whether to tell me or not.  Finally, she glanced over at me and I could see unshed tears in her eyes, “please don’t hate me,” she said in a small voice. “I’ve just got you back, I don’t want you to hate me.”

“Just tell me,” I said softly watching her but I reached back and grabbed one of Newt’s hands in mine, he may have been asleep but I needed some comfort and it felt a little bit like a safety blanket. 

 “The reason why we didn’t get taken by WICKED,” she said unevenly before taking a shaky breath “is because you weren’t with us.”

I took a deep breath and gave Newt’s hand a little squeeze, “where was I?”

“We had been planning our escape for a month,” Juliet said looking forward at the solid grey wall, refusing to meet my gaze again. I knew I wasn’t going to like this story.  “By then Andy, Ashely, Jake, Jinxx and CC had all gone through the change. I was immune and we figured you were too but they hadn’t taken you yet.”

“Who hadn’t taken me where?”

“The scientists at FEAR hadn’t taken you to the room, you weren’t infected. We thought it was because you were still too young.  A few days before our planned escape they came and took you,” tears were now falling slowly down her face but she was too caught up in her memories. “We were shocked when you came back covered in scrapes and cuts because we knew what had happened. You were only fourteen and they had thrown you in a room with a Crank.”

“Wait what?” I said as I recalled the dream I had, had the other day in the Glade, I had been in a cage and then thrown into a room with a Crank. Are you telling me that was another memory? Thomas was right!

“That’s how they would infect us,” Juliet said glancing at me quickly, “they would put us in a room and send in a Crank for a period of time.  All the while you had to try and keep it off of you.”

Oh my God! It had been a memory.

“We couldn’t change our plans,” Juliet continued and I shook myself to clear my head and listen to the rest of the story. “We had hoped that the virus wouldn’t affect you, we hoped you were immune like me but the day before we were supposed to leave you began showing the same symptoms as the boys. The black veins spiderwebbing your skin, the screams of pain. We knew we couldn’t take you with us, we wouldn’t be able to get out. So, our plan changed.”

Juliet paused taking a deep breath and I felt the hand around mine tighten, looking down in saw Newt’s eyes were half open, he was listening to the story.

“We decided since you couldn’t move, we would escape and come back for you with an army of people.” She stopped talking and looked back at me, “we were always going to come back for you. You have to know that, right?” she sounded so heartbroken, her tears were falling faster down her face.

“I don’t remember anything,” I said truthfully, I didn’t know how to feel at the thought of being left behind because I honestly didn’t remember it.

“We managed to get out,” she said continuing through her crying, “we kept an ear to the ground listening to any and all rumours about FEAR. Finally, Andy said he knew they were going to transfer you to another building. That’s when we would make our move, attack the transport and take you with us. But we were too late,” she turned to me now, “by the time we got there, FEAR’s transport had all been blown up and we couldn’t find you. CC had been sure that it was WICKED that had taken you but we had no proof.  We kept trying to find you, we’ve been continuously searching for the last three years. We would listen for any mention of you but we never heard anything.”

I was listening to the story but I felt oddly detached. I didn’t remember any of my past ordeals. I did know that I would never leave someone behind though, that wasn’t my nature but then again, they had kept looking for me for the past three years. It didn’t sound like they had forgotten about me either.   

“We kept looking,” she said, “it was a few days ago that Andy said he knew where you were.”

“Wait so you planned that attack?”  I felt Newt’s hand squeeze mine.

“It wasn’t an attack,” Juliet quickly replied.

“You shot at us,” I countered.

“They were just distractions, we told them specifically not to hurt anyone.”

“Tell that to my friend Thomas who got shot, I don’t even know if his okay.” Worried shot through me at that thought and once again Newt squeezed my hand.

“They shot someone?” Juliet said in surprise, like she didn’t know.

“Yeah then they grabbed me while I was trying to load him in the car.”

“They never mentioned that,” Juliet’s face changed to one of anger before she looked at me with pleading eyes, “I swear we didn’t know they shot anyone. They said the mission had gone successfully with no injuries.”

“No injuries?” I questioned, “they whacked Newt on the back of the head and knocked him out cold.”  Again, I felt him squeeze my hand telling me to calm down.

Juliet’s face turned angry again, “that behaviour is not acceptable and then to lie about it. Don’t worry I will be having words with Andy about this.”

“Is he the leader?”

“Of sorts,” Juliet replied.

“How can he be the leader ‘of sorts’?”

“All the guys are leaders, people look up to them or are scared of them because of their abilities. The Wild One’s were formed by the six of us while we were looking for you.  We raided buildings and camps searching, when we came across people who need help or somewhere to go we took them in.”

Suddenly Newt’s scream broke through the room, it was the worst one I had heard yet, his body went ridged with pain before collapsing in on itself again. By the time it was over, he was curled up in the fetus position. 

“I’ll go see if we’ve got anything to take the edge off the pain,” Juliet said leaving the room while I turned around to tend to Newt. I gave my head a quick shake trying to clear it. I had no time to think about my forgotten past, at the moment Newt needed me.  Once he pulled through then I would think about everything I have learned and try to rebuild a relationship with these people but at the moment Newt took all my focus.

NEWT

It felt like my body was on fire, the pain searing through my veins as screams escaped from my mouth.  Slowly the pain began to reside, my mind clearing until all that was left was a burning ache that I could feel down to my bones.

I couldn’t find a pain free position, no matter how I moved the pain stayed, the only thought on my mind was that it was going to get worse. I couldn’t imagine how this could get any worse.  As my breathing began to slow down and I became more conscious of my surroundings I could feel Evie moving around on the bed.

I opened my eyes to see her leaning over me, placing a cool, white cloth on top of my forehead.  Her eyes were blurry with unshed tears and full of emotions; I saw worry and sadness but the most prominent one was fear.

“You okay?” I asked reaching up to brush away a tear that had escaped.

“Am I okay?” she repeated with a small sad laugh, “shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Maybe,” I replied and tried to smile.

“All I want is for you to get better,” she said reaching down and brushing the hair off my forehead.  “Once you’re better then I’ll worry about everything else.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I mumbled, my eye lids were slowly closing.

“Get some rest,” she said gently but I was already fading away into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just writing a quick apology, you may have noticed my updating scheduled and speed has been a little out of whack, that's because i am on holiday over the next few weeks, once i get back it should go back to normal.


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